The Islamabad High Court
(IHC) and the Lahore High
Court on Monday gave two
contradictory judgements. On
one hand, the IHC suspended
the judgement of a single
bench declaring the Car
Amnesty Scheme lawful. On
the other hand, the LHC
declared the scheme legal.
STORY ON PAGE 13

DE VILLIERS,
PACERS SEAL
4-1 VICTORY
STORY ON PAGE 17

Be careful the environment you choose for it will
shape you; be careful the friends you choose for
you will become like them — W. Clement Stone

HE jamaat-e-Islami (jI), undeterred by the ire of the Pakistan
army and refusing to apologise
for its chief’s remarks, has said
jI chief Syed Munawar Hasan’s
statement regarding the Pakistan army was
correct and according to Sharia.
On Sunday, jI chief Syed Munawar

MIRANSHAH: The Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP) on Monday praised jamaate-Islami (jI) chief Munawar Hasan for
calling the killed TTP commander
Hakimullah Mehsud a ‘martyr’. TTP
spokesman Shahidullah Shahid thanked the
jI chief for his ‘glorious’ words regarding
the deceased chief of TTP. In his statement,
he said Hassan was brave whereas jamiat
ulema-e-Islam chief Fazlur Rehman’s
statement was controversial. He asked if
the people fighting against the uS were not
martyrs, then who was? On Sunday, the
Pakistan army strongly condemned what it
called irresponsible and misleading
remarks by the jI chief. according to a
statement issued by the ISPR, it strongly
condemned the irresponsible and
misleading remarks by Hassan in a TV
programme, declaring the dead terrorists
martyrs while insulting the martyrdom of
thousands of innocent Pakistanis and
soldiers of Pakistan’s armed forces. “Syed
Munawar Hasan has tried to invent a logic
based on his political convenience. Strong
condemnation of his views from an
overwhelming majority leaves no doubt in
any one’s mind that all of us are very clear
on what the state of Pakistan is and who
are its enemies,” it said. ONLINE

Hasan’s recent controversial statements of
giving the certificate of martyrdom to
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief
Hakimullah Mehsud and deriding military
personnel who rendered sacrifices in the
war against terrorists, drew a strong ire of
the army, which asked the jI chief to tender an unconditional apology. jI General
Secretary Liaqat baloch said the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) had issued
a political press release which was unbecoming of a military force. Responding to
the ISPR press release over Hassan’s remarks, baloch said the army did not have
the right to interfere in political affairs

baloch spoke with reporters following
the meeting of the jI Majlis-e-Shura that
was also attended by the party’s chief Munawar Hasan. jI chief Munawar Hasan said
he was standing by his statement. Liaqat
baloch said the ISPR had issued a political
press release and these issues were being
raised to achieve a specific purpose. “The
issue at hand is the closure of naTO supplies and end to drone attacks.” The jI
leader said his party was willing to offer
any kind of sacrifice for the country.
baloch said his party had always sacrificed to safeguard ideological as well as
geographical boundaries of the country

SA goes ballistic over
Munawar’s statement
KARACHI

ISMAIL DILAWER

In a rare show of unanimity with the
country's armed forces, the political
parties in the Sindh assembly raised
their voices with that of Pakistan army
in condemning the "unfortunate" statement by jamat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawar Hassan, that the provincial
legislators believed, had insulted the
martyrdom of thousands of Pakistanis
in the ongoing war against terrorism.
also in an equally important move,
the provincial legislature adopted a
unanimous resolution to express its
reservations over the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) schedule for
the forthcoming local body polls that,
the house apprehended, was impracticable in terms of transparency.
"This assembly vehemently condemns the unfortunate statement by jamaat-e-Islami amir Syed Munawar
Hassan, wherein he has hurt the feelings
of people of Pakistan by insulting the sacrifices of thousands of Pakistanis and soldiers of the armed forces and law
enforcement agencies who laid their lives
in the war against terrorism," reads a PPPbacked resolution adopted unanimously
by the 168-member house in what a commentator said masterly a "political ses-

SUNNI ITTEHAD COUNCIL
TO STAGE PROTEST
AGAINST JI CHIEF
LAHORE: Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC)
announced Monday a nationwide protest
against jamat-e-Islami (jI) ameer
Munawar Hassan on coming Friday.
Reports said the SIC said in its statement
that Munawar Hassan committed an act of
treason calling Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) chief Hakimullah Mehsud a martyr.
Earlier, lawmakers in Sindh assembly
also strongly criticised the controversial
remarks of Munawar Hassan on the status
of army soldiers martyred in the war
against terrorism. ONLINE

sion". The draft, tabled by Sharmila
Faruqui of the Pakistan People's Party,
also paid homage to the martyrs and their
families for rendering supreme sacrifices
for the beloved Pakistan. While all others
were aboard, four lawmakers of Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) remained neutral
to the resolution that blasted the leadership of defiant jI, the PTI's coalition partner in Khyber Pakhtunkwah province.
While the assembly was passing this resolution, Liaquat baloch of the jI refused
outrightly to comply with the ISPR's demand for a public apology, saying that
the army was not constitutionally meant
to "directly" interfere in the country's
democratic process through issuing political statements. another resolution
adopted claimed that the ECP's election
schedule was practically difficult to deliver free and fair election for the local
government administration.
It said conducting the local government election in a "hastily and non-transparent manner" would cast a doubt on
the credibility not only on the process
but also results of the most-awaited
polls. "The Election Commission of Pakistan must ensure that all essential requirements like, magnetic ink, proper
voters lists are provided and reasonable
canvassing time be allotted for free, fair
and transparent local government elec-

tions," said the resolution. The printing
of ballot papers as defined by the law
could only be carried out by the Printing
Press of Pakistan (PPP), the draft said.
The PPP, it added, had already shown its
inability to print the ballots in the given
election schedule. "The printing of ballot
papers by any private printing press is
not be acceptable as it would make the
transparency of election process questionable," the house said in the resolution. Calling for the prevalence of the
sovereign political will of the house, the
PPP-dominated assembly stressed that
the democratic process of elections must
be transparent. "This resolution must be
forwarded to Election Commission of
Pakistan," said the resolution.
The members from two divides of
the house commented on the resolution
and demanded of the ECP to review its
election schedule. Meanwhile, the house
proceedings witnessed nusrat Seher abbasi of the PML-F tabling an adjournment motion to discuss the definite
matter of recent and urgent public importance namely, the Sindh government's
termination of 13,000 employees of the
local government department. Furthermore, MPa Rehana Leghari complained
of having her privilege breached at the
hand of Maqsood ahmed Memon, XEn
of HESCO, Thatta.

and had always acknowledged Pakistan
army’s sacrifices. He said, “We condemn
upper Dir and Salala incidents, but the
army has no right to question any political
party directly.” according to the jI leader,
there was a specific purpose behind diverting attention to personal debates.
He said the country would have to get
out of the drone war in order to establish
sustainable peace. baloch added that Hasan
did not attack the reputation of the army,
therefore, no questions should be aimed at
his statements. He further said martyrdom
was a dignified rank which could only be
conferred by “none other than allah”.

PPP LEADER FAWAD
SENDS LEGAL NOTICE
TO MUNAWAR

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples’ Party
(PPP) leader and Supreme Court advocate,
Chaudhry Fawad Hussain has sent a legal
notice to jamaat-e-Islami chief Munawar
Hasan for declaring Hakimullah Mehsud a
‘martyr’. Fawad stated in the notice that
Munawar declared Hakimullah, a terrorist
and killer of many innocent people, a martyr.
Munawar’s statement negates the sacrifices
rendered by innocent citizens of the country
and is contempt of the sacrifices made by the
martyrs of Pakistan army personnel for
Pakistan. Fawad expressed hope in the
notice that Munawar should render an
unconditional apology to the nation,
especially to the families of the martyrs for
his misleading statement or else he reserves
the right to take legal action against him. INP

‘INCOMPETENT’SINDHU GETS THE BOOT!
LAHORE
STAFF REPORT

P

unjab Minister for Health Tahir
Khalil Sindhu resigned from his
portfolio as provincial minister for
health after Chief Minister Shahbaz
Sharif severely reprimanded him for
inefficiency and incompetency in handling
such an important ministry, sources privy to
the development told Pakistan Today.
Sindhu was handed over such an important
and sensitive portfolio for the first time under
the CM, who put a lot of trust and confidence
on him. It should be noted that there was no

one given the health portfolio in the previous
tenure, while only this time a health minister
was taken into the cabinet to manage the
situation. a senior official who was privy to
the development said the CM actually grilled
the health officials along with the minister
over failure in handling the ministry in
general, and the dengue crisis in particular.
Pertinent to mention is the worsening
condition of dengue which is on the border of
being an epidemic, although the devastation
is nowhere near the one which hit the
province and the metropolitan in 2011.
However the number of dengue cases is
increasing at an alarming rate with the deaths

taking place as well. The chief minister
recently removed senior health officials in
Rawalpindi as well over negligence to
cope with the dengue fever, which took
many lives a couple of years ago. as per
recent reports, the number of dengue
patients in Punjab has reached to a total of
1,500. a Health Ministry’s spokesperson
said the chief minister confronted Sindhu
over his inability to implement
precautionary measures. Rather than
seeking another opportunity, the health
minister submitted his resignation and has
since been terminated from the position.
Meanwhile, Health Secretary Hassan Iqbal

has also been suspended from his job by the
government over “negligence”. This
negligence had been leading to increasing
number of dengue patients in the province.
The Punjab chief, however, decided to let
Sindhu remain the minister for minorities
and human rights. It remains to be seen
how the former health minister will
deliver in this capacity.
Meanwhile the government has given
the charge of the health department to
Khawaja Salman Rafiq.
Chaudhry Sher ali, provincial minister for
energy, was also relieved of his charge due
to non-performance.

03

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The
most certain way to succeed is always to try
just one more time — Thomas A. Edison

news

N

Tuesday, 12 november, 2013

AFTER TTP, HAQQANI NETWORK LOSES TOP BOSS
H
Jalaluddin
Haqqani’s elder son
Naseeruddin
assassinated in
Islamabad
Naseeruddin was on
US hit list for
masterminding and
executing militant
attacks in
Afghanistan
Junior Haqqani’s
body transported to
Miranshah on
Sunday night, buried
on Monday

ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR

KASHIF ABBASI/SHAMIM SHAHID

aRDLy 11 days
after the Pakistani
Taliban lost their
chief Hakimullah
Mehsud in a uS
drone strike, the dreaded Haqqani
network of afghan militants allegedly based in Pakistan’s tribal
areas suffered a massive loss after
naseeruddin Haqqani, the elder son
of jalaluddin Haqqani and financial
brain of the outfit, was gunned
down by two armed assailants in
the federal capital on Sunday night.
Sources told Pakistan Today
that naseeruddin was shot dead by
two unidentified gunmen at Simli
Dam Road area in the bhara Kahu
police precincts. naseeruddin was
on the uS hit list for masterminding and executing several militant
attacks on naTO and uS forces in
afghanistan. no one has yet
claimed responsibility for the

killing, but it will likely spark suspicion in Pakistan that the americans were behind it. although the
police officials concerned remained tightlipped about the assassination of the high-profile
afghan militant leader in Islamabad, sources told Pakistan Today
that the assailants waited at the
Karachi Hotel on Simli Dam Road
for over an hour for their target.
“as soon as naseeruddin, 40, disembarked from his vehicle around
8.30pm, the gunmen opened fire
on him, killing him instantly,”
they said. Witnesses told Pakistan
Today that soon after the killing,
heavy contingents of police and
intelligence personnel conducted
raids in the surrounding areas in
search of the assailants.
an intelligence official, asking
not to be named, said security personnel had found more than three
dozen bullet casing and a broken gun
from the crime scene. Reports said
that naseeruddin’s body was quickly

transported to Miranshah in north
Waziristan agency on Sunday night
for burial but so far there is no official statement on how the dead body
was taken to the restive tribal agency
and why was naseeruddin in Islamabad. Sources said that it was likely
that the Haqqani network leader
was in Islamabad to discuss the
peace dialogue process in
afghanistan with Pakistani officials.
They said that naseeruddin was
considered the “brain” of the
Haqqani network and was the main
fundraiser for the militant group.
PRISONER EXcHANgE: according to an investigation by
Pakistan Today’s Shamim Shahid
in Peshawar, naseeruddin was
known as a doctor and a frequently visitor to Saudi arabia
and other Gulf states. “He was
considered the man in-charge of
financial matters of his father’s
network,” sources said. They said
that naseeruddin reportedly remained in prison for a couple of

months, but was freed in exchange for security personnel on
a demand put forth by then TTP
commander Hakimullah Mehsud.
Sources said that naseeruddin’s funeral was held in Miranshah on Monday but it was a low
key event because of imposition
of an army curfew. The Haqqani
network, afghanistan’s most

feared militant group, is under frequent uS drone attacks for the
past many years. a couple of
weeks ago, Sangeen Zadran, the
second-in-command
of
the
Haqqani network was killed in a
uS drone strike while jalaluddin
Haqqani’s two sons, badar and
Mohammad, have also been targeted by uS drones.

IMRAN DISAPPOINTED BY
LACK OF PUBLIC OUTRAGE
OVER HAKIMULLAH’S KILLING
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
(PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Monday
expressed his disappointment over the people’s reaction against Hakimullah Mehsud’s
killing. “I was hoping the entire nation, including the media and opposition, would be
on the same page and that we would show a
stern reaction to america,” Imran said
while speaking in the national assembly.
He accused the uS of derailing Pakistan’s
peace process by killing TTP chief
Hakimullah Mehsud, hours before peace
talks with political parties were to commence. “I am disappointed,” he continued,
“Instead of saying that the peace process
has been sabotaged, people started saying
that those in support of peace talks are supporters of terrorists.” “This is perhaps the
most difficult time for Pakistan,” he said,
“How can we move forward if talks are not
moving forward?” He emphasised the need
for Pakistan to present a united front so that
drone strikes were discontinued, and noted
that the attacks had only served to divide
Pakistanis. The PTI chairman also bemoaned the expenses of engaging in the
war on terror. Pakistan was spending Rs 90
billion per month on war, he said, adding
that the money could instead have been
used on education and health. STAFF REPORT

SHAH ADVISES PM TO TAKE
PARLIAMENT INTO CONFIDENCE
OVER PEACE TALKS
ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition
in the national assembly Khurshid Shah on
Monday advised Prime Minister nawaz
Sharif to take parliament into confidence
over issues relating to talks with the Taliban
and the state of peace and security in the
country. Sources in the Prime Minister’s
House said the meeting between the
premier and the opposition leader took
place during the lunch given to Kuwait’s
prime minister. The situation emerging in
the aftermath of the killing of Tehreek-eTaliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Hakimullah
Mehsud in a recent uS drone attack was
also discussed. Shah assured nawaz of full
cooperation in the government’s counterterrorism efforts also advising the premier
to personally take the national assembly
into confidence over the matter. The
meeting also discussed the overall security
situation in the country. On november 9,
most opposition parties walked out of the
national assembly twice in protest and
stayed out because of the absence of the
prime minister in the sessions of the House.
They also warned on Saturday they would
continue to stay out unless the prime
minister himself came to brief the House on
Monday on important issues such as the
fate of the disrupted peace process with the
Taliban. STAFF REPORT

Pakistan (TTP) chief Hakimullah
Mehsud was killed, he said the TTP had
demanded face-to-face dialogue, to
which the government had demanded an
end to terror attacks.
He said there had been no attacks for

ISLAMABAD
STAFF REPORT

The debate over who is a martyr and
who is not is extremely damaging for
Pakistan, Interior Minister Chaudhry
nisar ali Khan said on Monday.
Speaking in the national assembly
floor, nisar said any kind of controversy
related to the armed forces was “worse
than poison” for Pakistan at this critical
juncture. Criticising former president
Pervez Musharraf’s “misuse of the
army”, nisar said the forces were not an
individual, but an institution, and in case
of Taliban talks, the military had
exercised great restraint and created an
environment conducive to talks despite
ongoing terrorist attacks. Describing the
initial process of dialogue prior to the
drone attack in which Tehreek-e-Taliban

Any kind of
controversy related
to the armed forces
is ‘worse than
poison’ for
Pakistan at this
critical juncture
three weeks following this exchange,
after which the government moved to
advance the talks. He added that there

was no guarantee at the time the talks
would have succeeded, but a detailed
plan was in place to get the provinces
and more political leaders involved in
the process. “now we have to pick up
the pieces,” nisar lamented, adding that
the government would have to analyse
how the next four-six weeks played out.
The dialogue process with the TTP
cannot move forward if there are more
drone attacks, the interior minister
added. He also claimed that there were
still stakeholders interested in continuing
the dialogue process, despite the
devastating impact of the drone attack
that killed the TTP chief.
BAckgROuND: nisar’s statements
on martyrdom were directed at the
brewing controversy over jamaat-eIslami (jI) chief Munawar Hasan calling
Hakimullah Mehsud a ‘martyr.’ Many
politicians criticised the jI chief’s
remarks and members of the Sindh
assembly even passed a resolution
against him on Monday. The army had
also issued a press release in which it
demanded an “unconditional apology’
from Hassan. “Syed Munawar Hasan has
tried to invent a logic based on his

political convenience. Strong
condemnation of his views from an
overwhelming majority leaves no doubt
in any one’s mind that all of us are very
clear on what the state of Pakistan is and
who its enemies are,” a statement issued
by the Inter-Services Public Relations
(ISPR) had said.

HE
Election
Commission of
Pakistan (ECP)
submitted a request to the
Supreme Court asking for an
extension in the current election dates for local government (LG) elections for four
months. The polls are scheduled for november 27 in
Sindh and December 7 in
Punjab and balochistan – the
dates provided as options to
the ECP by the Supreme
Court.
On Monday, the ECP
filed a petition in the SC to
grant four months duration
for the preparations of local
bodies elections in the country. It was requested in the
petition that time be given
until March 2014 for the requisite arrangements for the
upcoming local bodies elections in the country. The ECP
said that for Lb polls in
Sindh, 110 million ballot papers were required, while 300
million ballot papers were required for Punjab.
The ECP said that since
the printing of ballot papers

was “impossible” within the
short time and rules and regulations prepared by the
provinces had flaws, therefore, the holding of local
body polls was “not possible”. To seek deferment of
elections, the ECP also cited
reasons of allotment of election symbols in Punjab for
party-based elections, besides the matter of local
councils in the province.
Earlier, the ECP had asked
Punjab’s provincial government to provide the body
with all the required resources for making arrangement
for
the
local
government elections. The
ECP had made this demand
in response to the provincial
government’s refusal to make
the arrangements itself as ordered by the commission on
november 6. The Punjab
government had refused to
arrange the local body elections, saying it was the commission’s responsibility.
Sc SINDH:: The Supreme
Court also approved a petition filed by the Sindh government in the Karachi
registry regarding local bodies’ elections in the province
on December 7.

However, Chief justice of
Pakistan (CjP) Iftikhar
Muhammad Chaudhry remarked that Lb polls had not
been held for the last eight
years and conducting Lb elections was a legal and constitutional
responsibility
of
provincial government. He
remarked, “no one will be allowed to violate the law. Election Commission is an
independent and autonomous
institution and it should ensure holding of Lb polls in
just, transparent and impartial
manner by exercising powers
as per law.” advocate General
(aG) Sindh appeared in the
court on behalf of the government of Sindh and apprised
the court of his government
plea, saying the Shia community was engaged in their religious
worshipping
and
government had to take care
of their security. The CjP
said, “Whosoever has any
complaint should resort to the
ECP for taking proper measures. The ECP will do whatever it deems proper.”
accepting the Sindh government’s plea for holding Lb
polls on December 7, the SC
referred the petition to ECP to
take decision on the matter.

KARACHI
STAFF REPORT

The Sindh High Court (SHC)
on Monday directed the national accountability bureau
(nab) to furnish their comments in a petition by former
Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP)
chairman against restriction on
his international travel. The petitioner, former SECP chairman Muhammad ali, through
his counsel submitted before
the court that upon his arrival
at jinnah International airport

from abroad on june 4, 2013,
he was subjected to harassment and informed that his
name had been placed on the
Exit Control List (ECL) by the
Interior Ministry on recommendation of the nab. He
told the two-judge bench that
officials belonging to Federal
Investigation agency (FIa)
also seized his passport at the
airport.
He stated that before
placing his name on the ECL,
no proper procedure was followed by the Ministry of Interior, adding that he was not

informed through any letter
about any restrictions. The
counsel representing the exchairman requested the court
to allow his client to proceed
abroad as he wanted to manage the admission of his
daughters in Canada and settle them there. He also
pleaded the court to pass orders for removal of his name
from ECL. Earlier, the SHC
allowed ali on august 8,
2013 to travel abroad subject
to furnishing surety in sum of
Rs 500,000 for five weeks.
The petitioner again asked

the court through his counsel
to allow more time as he was
still in the process of settling
his daughters abroad. at his
request, the SHC had granted
him four weeks more time to
stay in abroad on October 4.
During the hearing on Monday, the bench headed by justice Ghulam Sarwar Korai
directed the counsel appearing on behalf of nab to file
comments till november 22.
The former SECP chairman
was under investigation in a
case relating to the multi-billion rupees OGRa scam.

PM approves low-cost
‘Apna Ghar’ housing scheme
ISLAMABAD: Prime
Minister nawaz Sharif
on Monday approved the
setting up of a company
under the supervision of
the Ministry of Housing
and Works to initiate a
housing scheme for the
low-income strata of the
society. The scheme
would be called the apna
Ghar Housing Scheme.
The prime minister is-

The objective of the
scheme is to provide
housing units to
low-income sections
of the society at a
low cost and in easy
instalments

sued these directions
while presiding over a
high-level meeting at the
Prime Minister House’s,
where he said the objective of the scheme was to
provide housing units to
low-income sections of
the society at a low cost
and in easy instalments.
He said a separate package should be initiated
under the rubric of the

apna Ghar Housing
Scheme for the needy,
widows etc and that such
people be separately
given financial assistance to pay the instalments. The prime minister resolved that a
respectable living on the
models of Turkey and
China would be made
available to the citizens
of the country. APP

05

K

The only thing that saves
us from the bureaucracy is its
inefficiency. — Eugene McCarthy

KARACHI: Transporters have pledged
to continue their strike against the
undue and poor policies of the
government imposed on them in the
name of rules and regulations.
Industrial sector also has badly affected
as due to block in transportation of raw
material used in assembling of different
items for daily life use. According to an
estimate, the national economy has
been hardly hit by loss of billions of
rupees. Import and exports activities
have badly suffered, causing loss not
only to mercantile activities but also to
industrial sectors. The government of
Sindh as well as police has assured
transporters to resolve their issues on
priority basis while federal government
is reviewing issues related to
transportation duties including ratio of
income tax. Transporters have warned
that their strike would remain peaceful
till 10th of Muharram. After that, they
would expand the phase of
demonstrations across the country and
jam the transportation system till the
satisfaction of their reservations and
demands. STAFF REPORT

i

ISMAIL DILAWER

n a rare show of unanimity with
the country's armed forces, the
political parties in the Sindh
assembly raised their voices with
that of Pakistan army in
condemning the "unfortunate" statement
by jamat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawar
Hassan, that the provincial legislators
believed, had insulted the martyrdom of
thousands of Pakistanis in the ongoing
war against terrorism.
also in an equally important move,
the provincial legislature adopted a
unanimous resolution to express its
reservations
over
the
Election
Commission of Pakistan's (ECP)
schedule for the forthcoming local body
polls that, the house apprehended, was
impracticable in terms of transparency.
"This
assembly
vehemently
condemns the unfortunate statement by
jamaat-e-Islami amir Syed Munawar
Hassan, wherein he has hurt the feelings
of people of Pakistan by insulting the
sacrifices of thousands of Pakistanis and
soldiers of the armed forces and law
enforcement agencies who laid their lives
in the war against terrorism," reads a PPPbacked resolution adopted unanimously
by the 168-member house in what a
commentator said masterly a "political
session". The draft, tabled by Sharmila
Faruqui of the Pakistan People's Party,
also paid homage to the martyrs and their
families for rendering supreme sacrifices

for the beloved Pakistan.
While all others were aboard, four
lawmakers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf
(PTI) remained neutral to the resolution
that blasted the leadership of defiant jI,
the PTI's coalition partner in Khyber
Pakhtunkwah province. While the
assembly was passing this resolution,
Liaquat baloch of the jI refused
outrightly to comply with the ISPR's
demand for a public apology, saying that
the army was not constitutionally meant
to "directly" interfere in the country's
democratic process through issuing
political statements. another resolution
adopted claimed that the ECP's election
schedule was practically difficult to
deliver free and fair election for the local

government administration.
It said conducting the local government
election in a "hastily and non-transparent
manner" would cast a doubt on the
credibility not only on the process but also
results of the most-awaited polls. "The
Election Commission of Pakistan must
ensure that all essential requirements like,
magnetic ink, proper voters lists are
provided and reasonable canvassing time be
allotted for free, fair and transparent local
government elections," said the resolution.
The printing of ballot papers as
defined by the law could only be carried
out by the Printing Press of Pakistan (PPP),
the draft said. The PPP, it added, had
already shown its inability to print the
ballots in the given election schedule. "The

printing of ballot papers by any private
printing press is not be acceptable as it
would make the transparency of election
process questionable," the house said in
the resolution. Calling for the prevalence
of the sovereign political will of the house,
the PPP-dominated assembly stressed that
the democratic process of elections must
be transparent. "This resolution must be
forwarded to Election Commission of
Pakistan," said the resolution.
The members from two divides of the
house commented on the resolution and
demanded of the ECP to review its
election schedule. Meanwhile, the house
proceedings witnessed nusrat Seher
abbasi of the PML-F tabling an
adjournment motion to discuss the definite
matter of recent and urgent public
importance
namely,
the
Sindh
government's termination of 13,000
employees of the local government
department. Furthermore, MPa Rehana
Leghari complained of having her
privilege breached at the hand of Maqsood
ahmed Memon, XEn of HESCO, Thatta.
She claimed that the bureaucrat, on
november 9, had misbehaved with her
by replying in a manner she termed as
"rude and insulting " when she
approached him for installing a new
transformer in her village, Churaitani,
which was without of power for four
days. Law Minister Dr Sikandar
Mandhro vowed to pursue the complaints
of two female lawmakers and revert.
Speaker agha Siraj Durrani prorogued
the house for an indefinite period

at least five people were killed in
Lyari in short span of one hour,
raising the death toll in Karachi
violence to 13. Rescue sources said,
that in Lyari, two people were shot
dead at Tanga stand in bihar
colony. Two bodies with torture
marks were found from Mirza
adam Khan road.
Sub Inspector (SI) ameen, 40,
was killed when unknown armed
men opened fire on him near Haji

Zahoor Hotel in Faqeer Colony
within
the
jurisdiction
of
Mominabad police station in
Orangi Town. He was targeted
while getting his car repaired at a
mechanic shop in Faqeer Colony.
He suffered one bullet in head. The
motive behind the killing could not
be ascertained yet.
jangheer,
30,
son
of
Muhammad Khan, was killed when
unknown armed assailants opened
fire on him near Fareed baba shrine
within the remit of Manghorpir
police station. The body was shifted

to abbasi Shaheed Hospital
Karachi for an autopsy. Police said
that the victim was resident of Lyari
and had a close relation with gang
war people. Police suspected that
the reason behind the killing could
be personal dispute.
Taj Muhammad, 55, son
Muhammad Islam, was beaten to
death with a stick in ansari
Mohalla near Khyber Chowk
within the remit of Ittehad Town
police station in baldia Town.
Meanwhile, Rizwan ali, 28, son of
Wilayat ali, was shot at and injured

by unknown armed men near old
truck stand in Mauripur. The
injured was rushed to CHK for
treatment. a 30-year-old, Rahat
Gul, son of Ghani Gul, was gunned
down by the unidentified armed
men near Chashma Pump, Qasba
Colony, Orangi Town, within the
remit of Peerabad police station.
Separately, the body of unidentified
man, aged around 25, was found
from northern bypass, Surjani
Town, within the jurisdiction of
Surjani police station. It was shifted
to aSH for an autopsy.

He has a right to criticize,
who has a heart to help.
— Abraham Lincoln

06

K

karachi
Tuesday, 12 november, 2013

Medical experts
speak at humdard
University workshop
KARACHI: Hamdard University in collaboration with
Higher Education Commission (HEC) on Monday
organised a workshop on the importance of ‘research
methodology’. Speakers at a workshop on emphasised
on the quality and integrity in research to make it
authentic. A large number of medical experts,
physicians, teachers and students attended the
workshop. Speaking on the occasion of inaugural session
of the workshop HEC’s Learning Innovation Division
Director Ateeque Rahman Khorho said that the research
work on Tibb-i-Unani and clinical experiments on its
medicines that were conducted at the university’s
Faculty of Eastern Medicine and clinical teaching
hospital, Shifaul Mulk Memorial Hospital, were
satisfactory. He also asked other Tibbi institutions to
emulate Hamdard University’s research. Paying tribute
to Hakim Said's contribution towards promotion of
education, health and science, he said that his work and
services for the progress and development of health,
education and Eastern medicine in the country were
exemplary. He said that the present administration of
the university, under the leadership of its Chancellor
Sadia Rashid and Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Hakim Abdul
Hannan are trying its level best to materialise the vision
of Shaheed Hakim Mohammed Said. At the concluding
session of workshop Prof Dr Hakim Abdul Hannan said
that speaking truth about the research was the real
essence of research and standards of research should
have to be followed to make research authentic and
acceptable. On behalf of HEC, Prof Dr Hakim Abdul
Hannan also gave away appreciation certificates to the
coordinators and resource persons of the workshop
including, Dr Hakim Halima Nazar, Dr Mubin, Dr
Sanowar, Dr Usman Ghani Khan and Dr Asif Ashraf. APP

PREPARING THE PATH: A Ranger operates a bomb detector, searching for buried explosives in the route of the Muharram procession. ONLINE

cm Sindh reSolveS to free
kArAchi from crimeS
KARACHI
INP

Pillion riding
to be banned on
Muharram 9th, 10th
KARACHI: Keeping in view worsening law and order
situation in the city, Sindh government has decided to
impose a ban on pillion riding of motorcycle in Karachi on
9th and 10th of Muharram. Higher authorities have sent
letter to the provincial home minister for formal releasing
of the notification for imposing ban. According to
sources, the ban notification would be effective
immediately after its release while old citizens, women,
children, journalists and security officials would be
exempted from the ban. APP

S

indh
Chief
Minister
Syed
Qaim ali Shah on
Monday reiterated
his resolve to wipe
out criminal elements from
Karachi to make it peaceful
and terror free city.
In a statement, Syed Qaim
ali Shah said that
targeted operation
in the metropolis
will continue till the
city is cleared
of

criminals, target killers, extortionists,
drug paddlers and land mafia.
He said that anti-state elements
involved in spreading hatred, mistrust,
violence and dividing the people on the
basis of linguistics, sects and other
grounds, would not be spared at any
cost. The chief minister appealed the
citizens to extend full cooperation with
law enforcement agencies (LEas)
personnel for maintaining peace in the
city especially during the holy month of
Muharram. He stressed over the need for
further accelerating the intelligence
network and to keep a close watch on
criminal elements and gangsters.
Qaim ali Shah also took notice of
target killing of aSI ameen and others
on Saturday and sought a report from
the inspector general (IG) and
additional inspector general (aIG) on
the incident.

N-25 Highway repair work slower than slow
KARACHI
APP

The upgrading and rehabilitation work of
Karachi-Kalat-Quetta-Chaman highway
(n-25) as an economic artery of the
country and an international highway will
be completed on priority basis. an official
of national Highway authority (nHa)
informed Monday that the construction
work of Quetta-Chaman Highway had not
been completed mainly due to termination

Authorities clAim
lAw And order holding
them bAck
of asian Development bank (aDb)
grant,adverse law and order situation nd
cut on PSDP funds due to floods in 2010
and 2011. He said that 60 KM Quettajungle Piralizai section was completed in

2010 while 57 km Piralizai-jungle section
has been completed about 65 per cent.
He said that the contract of M/s MabRex(jV) had been terminated from july 12
due to persistent deteriorated law and
order situation in the project area, project
management issues of the contractor. The
road from jungle Pir alizai to Chaman had
not been constructed due to reasons as
stated to same reasons. He said that the
sections of the road constructed so far
were built as per nHa specifications and

standards, as the project remained under
supervision of international consultants.
The n-25 national Highway or RCD
Highway is 813 KM long, passing through
Karachi, bela, Khuzdar, Kalat, Quetta and
Chaman and continuing into afghanistan,
It then joins n-40 (national Highway 40
Quetta-Taftan International border
Circuit) which leads it via naukundi to
Road 84 in Iran and through various
Iranian Highways to Turkey and onwards
Europe.

traﬃc ig inaugurates
international driving
licence programme

KARACHI
APP

Sindh Traffic additional IG Ghulam Qadir
Thebo on Monday said that the initiation of
international driving licences has been
inaugurated. In an inaugural ceremony at
the Driving Licence branch, Clifton, he
announced that a driving licence branch is
being established from where the data of
the local and international driving licences
would be stored. He further stated that the
provision of every possible facility to the
people would be ensured. He informed that
for facilitating the issuance of learning
licences certain points would be identified
in Karachi in the first phase after Muharram
for the mobile driving licence facility.
Later, this programme would be expanded
to Hyderabad, Larkana, Sukkur and
Mirpurkhas. Thebo stated that steps are also
being taken for linking the Karachi's
driving licence branches with Hyderabad,
Mirpurkhas, Sukkur and Larkana.

COMSATS, WHO ORGANISE SEMINAR ON E-HEALTH
KARACHI
APP

The COMSaTS Institute of Information
Technology in collaboration with World
Health Organisation (WHO) organised a
programme on E-Health and how it could
play a crucial role in controlling epidemics
such as polio and dengue fever through an
effective surveillance system.
Speaking on the occasion Dow
university of Health Science’s (DuHS)
Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Masood Hameed
Khan said, everyday, across the world,
countries are making improvements in their
health systems as a direct benefit of e-

Health technologies.
Participants of the event including
medical practitioners, doctors, public health
professional, HMIS managers, IT
professionals said that e-health has evolved
as an important innovative subject for
enhancing the proficiency of health sector.
Speakers highlighted that e-health
refers to the use of information and
communication technologies (ICT) in
healthcare services. Prof Masood Hameed
Khan said Dow university of Health
Sciences is working towards adopting new
teaching methodologies for undergraduate,
postgraduate students and as part of
continuous medical education.

For this purpose, a new e-learning cell
has been established at Dow university
Ojha Campus, he said mentioning that elearning serves are guidepost for applied
online teaching, as well as an information
hub for the latest instructional technology.
COMSaTS
Health
Informatics
Department head Dr Shafaat a Khan said
that over the past many years e-health has
evolved as an important innovative subject
for enhancing the proficiency of health
sector. now a day, there are several
thematic areas where e-health initiatives are
being successfully deployed including
areas like telemedicine, electronic health
records, m-health, e-learning, use of

technologies for health surveys and ICT
based community initiatives, he elaborated.
Speakers said e-health is currently
evolved as one of the important areas of
engagement for WHO with its member states.
It was also mentioned that WHO has been
mandated for playing a coordinating role for
the new Global Initiative for Commission for
Information and accountability (COIa). eHealth is one of the seven thematic areas
where WHO is engaged with priority
countries, including Pakistan, WHO-HIS/eHealth Coordinator Dr S M Mursalin said.
He said WHO had recognised e-health
as the way to achieve cost-effective and
secure use of the information and

What we actually learn, from any given set of
circumstances, determines whether we become
increasingly powerless or more powerful. — Blaine Lee

07

news

N

Tuesday, 12 november, 2013

Sc seeks reply from federation on power subsidy
lAw, not someone’s
whims, to govern
the country
ISLAMABAD
AgENcIES

The Supreme Court on Monday sought a
reply from the federation over withdrawal of
subsidy on power tariff.
a three-member bench comprising Chief

justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, justice jawwad S Khawaja and justice amir
Hani Muslim issued the directives during the
hearing of a suo motu case regarding prolonged power load shedding in the country.
The court observed that Pakistan was a
welfare state and the government should not
take steps that could affect the interest of general public.
It directed the government to explain the
reasons for withdrawal of the subsidy.
The court also sought details from the
Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO)

and the national Electric Power Regulatory
authority (nEPRa) about the subsidies
given so far on electricity tariff to the public.
The chief justice questioned whether the
consumers’ point of view was heard before
withdrawal of the subsidy.
The CjP said only law would work in the
country instead of some individual’s whims.
“How much subsidy was given by the
government and why is it being stopped
now? People friendly policies should be formulated in a welfare state. Hike in power tariff ensues a storm of inflation. The

Government should be compassionate with
the people.”
justice jawwad Khawja remarked a
country was governed by its own laws, and
the law of “the uS, uK and France does not
work in our country”.
“Formulating the policy is the domain of
the government. but this cannot be evolved
against the fundamental rights. Time has
come that everything runs in the country in
tune with law and constitution.”
The justice said constitution and law had
vested “certain responsibilities with us and it

is imperative that these should be discharged.
We will stop if the government frames energy policy in derogation to fundamental
rights”. The CjP said if fertilizer had to be
provided to farmers on exorbitant rates, what
was the use of providing gas to fertilizer
companies at subsidized rates?
“The government should look into the
matter in this perspective.”
While seeking a new energy policy and
details of the subsidy provided by the government since 2006, the court adjourned the
hearing of the case until today (Tuesday).

cAndidAteS
StArt filing lb
nominAtion
PAPerS in Sindh
And PunjAb
ISLAMABAD: The process of filing of
nomination papers for Local bodies (Lb)
Elections in Sindh and Punjab has been
started from Monday‚ november 11. The
process will continue till Tuesday and
objections against nomination papers can be
filed on Wednesday. according to the
election schedule for Sindh‚ the scrutiny will
take place on 16 and 17 of this month.
appeals against objections to nomination
papers can be filed on 18 and 19 which will
be disposed off by november 21.
nomination papers can be withdrawn by
november 22. Final lists of candidates will
be notified a day after, on november 23,
where as the election will be held on the
november 27, while result will be
announced on november 30. according to
the election schedule for Punjab‚ the scrutiny
will take place on 16, 17 and 18 of this
month. appeals against objections to
nomination papers can be filed on november
19 and 20 which will be disposed off from
21 to 23 of this month. nominations paper
can be withdrawn by november 24. Final
lists of candidates will be notified the next
day, on november 25. The election will be
held on December 7 while the result will be
announced on December 10. Meanwhile‚ the
scrutiny of nomination papers for the Lb
polls in balochistan began in Quetta on
Sunday which continued till november 11
(Monday). More than 22,000 nomination
papers have been filed for 7,189 seats in the
provincefor which the election will be held
on December 7. ONLINE

Puc cAmPing out
At rAiwind
LAHORE: The Pakistan ulema Council
(PuC) organised a camp during the Raiwind
gathering to offer guidance to Islamic
scholars, students, mosque leaders and the
general public. Different ‘fatwas’ (edicts)
were issued during the camp concerning
issues such as terrorism, the Islamic concept
of ‘daughters being a blessing’, interfaith
dialogue and polio campaigns. Thousands of
Islamic scholars, students and members of
the general public visited the camp during the
gathering. They praised the books, fatwas and
pamphlets published by the PuC to offer
guidance on different issues and stressed the
need for religious, political and social powers
to understand the seriousness of the situation
and guide the world according to the
teachings of the Quran and Sunnah. Different
delegations of Islamic scholars and students
from Waziristan, Peshawar, Mardan,
Khanewal, Rahim yar Khan, Rawalpindi,
Lahore, Muzaffargarh, azad Kashmir, Zhob,
Quetta, Dera Ismail Khan, Hyderabad,
Khairpur and other cities met with the leaders
of the PuC. Speaking on the occasion, PuC
Central Chairman Hafiz Muhammad Tahir
Mahmood ashrafi, Maulana Zahid
Mahmood Qasmi, Maulana Hafiz
Muhammad amjad, Maulana abdul
Qayyum, Maulana ammar baloch, Maulana
anwar-ul-Haq Mujahid, Maulana ashfaq
Patafi, Maulana Mushtaq ahmad and others
said that the PuC was striving to guide the
people according to the teachings of the
Quran and Sunnah. STAFF REPORT

FAISALABAD: Candidates for local government elections fill their nomination forms at the District Council on Monday. OnLIne

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Central Information Secretary Shireen Mazari on Monday
took strong exception to Information Minister
Pervaiz Rashid’s attack on Imran Khan and
PTI’s decision to stop naTO supplies.
She said the minister was not only confused over the issue but was trying to defend
the indefensible – the u-turn of the prime minister on drones.
Mazari said there was a deliberate attempt
by the government at disinformation regarding the PTI call for stopping of naTO supplies.
“This call is a direct response to uS sabotaging of the dialogue and peace process by
the government as part of the aPC mandate.
a message must be conveyed to the uS and
naTO countries, as well as the rest of the
world, that the uS deliberately sabotaged the
initiation of a vital peace process sought by
all the political parties of Pakistan and the
people of Pakistan through the use of a drone
attack, and that this was unacceptable.”
The PTI leader said Pervaiz Rashid would
serve Pakistan’s cause better if he could explain why the prime minister was zipping
around the globe trying to drum up investment for Pakistan when he should first be fo-

cusing on bringing peace to the country
through dialogue, so that there was an environment created for investment to come.
Mazari demanded the minister to explain
why the PM had taken a u-turn on drones.
“before the elections, on May 9, nawaz
Sharif was asked in an interview what plans
he had against drones if he came to power. He
replied that he would first take up the matter
with the uS and convey to them strongly that
this was a complete mess that killed more innocent people than anyone else, that this must
stop and that it gave rise to complete anti-uS
sentiment among our people.”
“So what happened to that commitment
to convey a strong message to the uS? The
joint nawaz-Obama statement does not even
mention drones,” Mazari asked.
as for the argument that the PTI coalition
government was receiving assistance from
naTO countries while seeking to block
naTO supplies, she said there was no logic
in this stance because the projects being
funded were ongoing projects and blocking of
naTO supplies had nothing to do with it.
“nor is PTI seeking to declare war on the
uS or naTO. It is simply protesting the sabotage of the peace talks and demanding that
the uS give a commitment not to do the same
again through a drone attack. Furthermore, it
is the PTI as a party that is undertaking this
protest not the government of Khyber
Pukhtunkhwa. It is the democratic right of the
PTI to do so, especially as drones are not only
a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty but also
a war crime as declared by the PHC april
2013 judgment.”

ihc SuSPendS tAuqir SAdiq’S
Sentence in ogrA ScAm cASe
ISLAMABAD: The
Islamabad High Court on
Monday suspended three-year
sentence handed over to
former OGRa chairman
Tauqir Sadiq in a multi-billion
corruption case. Sadiq had
challenged his conviction and
the three-year sentence in the
IHC. In his petition, Sadiq
said the accountability court
did not give him the chance to
defend the allegations levelled
against him. He claimed that
his case was not decided on
merit and that the subsequent
three-year jail term was
unjust. On May 7, an
accountability court had
sentenced Sadiq to three years
in prison in-absentia “for failing to appear before the court”. It had also
directed the national accountability bureau (nab) to seize all his
moveable and immoveable property and bank accounts. Sadiq is accused
of embezzling Rs 83 billion through issuance of the CnG licences and
mismanagement. He is currently in the custody of the national
accountability bureau. ONLINE

rAw to Provoke SectAriAn clASheS
during muhArrAm: rePort
ISLAMABAD: The intelligence agencies have issued reports indicating
an increase in sectarian strife in Punjab during the month of Muharram,
local media quoting sources reported on Monday. Intelligence reports
claimed that sectarian dissension would be created by the Indian
intelligence agency, Research and analysis Wing (RaW), via provision
of secret funds amongst banned organisations like Lashkar-e-jhangvi.
Intelligence sources said two banned organisations will be funded for
attacking opponents during last three days of Moharram on the dates of
8, 9 and 10th respectively. The terrorists will carry out targeted attacks
on Shia gatherings, majalis and mourning processions, as well as
specific and prominent personalities. Pakistani authorities also fear that
the Taliban could also target Shia mourning processions as a revenge of
TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud’s killing. ONLINE

If your actions inspire others to dream more,
learn more, do more and become more, you
are a leader. — John Quincy Adams

08
N

news
Tuesday, 12 november, 2013

Pm approves youth business loan Scheme
350,000 youths Aged between 21 And 45 with
entrePreneuriAl PotentiAl will be eligible for
scheme with 50 Per cent quotA reserved for women
ISLAMABAD

P

STAFF REPORT

RIME Minister nawaz Sharif
on Monday said the government would support talented
and unemployed youth of Pakistan to make them self-re-

liant.
Chairing a meeting to review the
Prime Minister’s youth Programme, he
approved the Prime Minister’s youth
business Loan Scheme under which
350,000 youth would be given loans.
The prime minister was apprised that
the net beneficiaries from the business
youth Loan Scheme would be about 10
million people throughout the country.

He directed to ensure complete transparency and fairness in the process of
loan disbursement and further said that
“no political and administrative interference will be tolerated in the loan
scheme.”
The prime minister said he would
personally supervise and monitor the loan
scheme so that the youth of the country
gain maximum benefits from the scheme.
The meeting was also attended by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Minister for
Information Senator Pervaiz Rashid, Secretary to Prime Minister javed aslam,
Secretary Finance Dr Waqar Masood
Khan, Governor State bank of Pakistan
yaseen anwar, President of First Women
bank Ms Charmaine Hidayatullah, act-

ing President national bank of Pakistan
asif Hassan, CEO SMEDa ahmad
nawaz Sukhera and senior officers of the
Prime Minister Office.
The small business loans scheme will
provide loans to the unemployed youth,
especially educated, looking for establishing or extending business enterprises.
all Pakistani young men and women
aged between 21
and 45 with entrepreneurial potential
will be eligible for the
scheme with 50 per cent
quota reserved for
women.
under the supervision of State
bank of Pakistan,
initially the national
bank
and
First
Women bank will
execute the scheme
while other banks
may join in after

approval of their respective
business-plans.
Loans will range from
Rs 0.5 to 2.0 million with
average loan size of
Rs1.25 million. The debtequity ratio for these
schemes will be 90:10
with tenure of seven
years.

india says ready to give
Pakistan ‘beneﬁt of the doubt’
externAl AffAirs
minister sAlmAn
khurshid sAys
‘PAkistAn hAs A lot
of very, very
difficult issues to
deAl with At home’

SYDNEY
ONLINE

India is prepared to give Pakistan “the benefit
of the doubt” as the two countries strive for
peace, Indian Foreign Minister Salman
Khurshid said on Monday.
India regularly accuses the Pakistan
army of providing covering fire for armed
rebels who cross the border and then mount
attacks and in an interview with The australian newspaper published Monday, Khurshid admitted the relationship was fraught.

“We talk to Pakistan periodically and in
terms of personal gestures we receive great
warmth,” he said. “but the on-the-ground reality and the results of our meetings are very
disappointing.”
However, with Prime Minister nawaz
Sharif last month vowing to go the “extra
mile” to make peace with India, Khurshid
said Delhi would take him at his word.
“Pakistan has a lot of very, very difficult
issues to deal with at home,” he was quoted
as saying. “Our view is that we should give
them time, not at our cost, of course, but that

we should give them the benefit of the
doubt.” “When nawaz Sharif says he wants
peace and good relations with India, we take
him at his word.”
but with recent shootings at the border
among the heaviest since a ceasefire agreement in 2003, Khurshid pointed out that Pakistan had not yet followed through on its
promise of top-level military meetings to sort
out better arrangements in Kashmir.
“If they can address the dismantling of
the infrastructure of terrorism, that would be
a good start,” he told the newspaper.

muShArrAf’S
exemPtion PleA
AccePted in
judgeS’
detention cASe

ISLAMABAD
ONLINE

The anti terrorism court in Islamabad on
Monday accepted former president Pervez
Musharraf’s plea seeking exemption from
attendance in the judges detention case.
The court also issued summons to the witnesses as they were absent from the court.
aTC judge atiqur Rahman resumed hearing the case in which Musharraf did not
appear. Defence counsel Ilyas Siddiqi
filed the plea, seeking exemption from appearance, citing security threats. The court
reviewed the issue and accepted the plea.
Later, further proceedings were adjourned
until november 26.

Chief justice of Pakistan (CjP) Iftikhar
Chaudhry on Monday said people were
dying due to pollution in Manchar lake,
but the Sindh government has grown in-

dAg sAys federAl govt is
reAdy to Provide funds
to sindh government
sensitive.
He said, “The matter will not run now
only through the postures of sitting, speaking and disposing. Contaminated water is
devouring precious lives and no one is realizing the situation even an iota. People
would not have died today had rulers re-

member commandment of Hazrat umar
(Ra). Lives of 50000 people are at stake
and the officers are busy in gossiping and
arranging parties while sitting in air conditioned rooms Government of Sindh
should tell what it was doing to provide
immediate relief.”
justice amir Hani Muslim observed,
“not only Manchar lake is becoming polluted due to inefficiency of institutions but
also the canals of clean drinking water are
being affected adversely... we cannot see
people dying. We will not care for any
one.”

a three-member bench of the
Supreme Court (SC), led by the CjP, took
up Manchar lake pollution case on Monday.
Deputy attorney General (DaG)
Sajid bhatti, the Sindh advocate general
(aG) and the Sindh Irrigation Department
director general appeared in the court.
bhatti told the court the federal government was ready to provide funds in this
regard.
While adjourning the hearing until
Tuesday the court has sought reply from
the Sindh government.

WANA/PESHAWAR: Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP) Mohmand agency chief
umer Khalid Kharasani on Monday
claimed that political parties and the
Pakistan army had always deceived the
Taliban and that the latest fiddle was in
the form of the drone attack that killed
their chief Hakimullah Mehsud. Talking
to a group of reporters at an undisclosed
location, Kharasani held the country’s
political parties and the army responsible
for the death of Hakimullah and vowed to
take revenge for their leaders murder. He
said the TTP spokesman’s statement
regarding the peace talks issue was his
informal assertion, adding that the formal
standpoint of the TTP would be issued
after a meeting of the Majlis-e-Shura to be
presided over by new TTP chief Mullah
Fazlullah. INP

glamourising a terrorist
where does Pml-n stand: with martyrs or militants?

T

HE government has been led into placating the terrorists by an
extremist lobby in the PMLn. unless there is an urgent correction of
course, the TTP would succeed in its aim of creating divisions
between political parties on the one hand and government and the army on
the other. What is at stake is not only democracy and the constitution but the
very integrity of the state. Things have deteriorated to a point where a
terrorist who orchestrated the killing s of hundreds of Pakistanis, civilians as
well as army men, is being glamourised as a role model for the youth by
being declared a martyr. The idea behind the attempt is to deprive the army
which is fighting militancy of public support.
The joint declaration adopted by aPC under the leadership of the PML-n
conferred on a group of terrorists the status of ‘stakeholders.’ This was in fact
a step towards capitulation. The government has tried to ‘negotiate peace
with our own people’ and seen the outcome. The ink on the peace declaration
was yet to dry when the TTP targeted GOC Swat Maj Gen Sanaullah, Col
Tauseef and Lance naik Irfan Sattar. The attack was duly owned by Fazlullah
who was to be subsequently rewarded by being appointed the TTP chief.
Soon afterward a Church was bombed in Peshawar, killing nearly 50
worshipers. While belatedly denying responsibility for the attack, the TTP
condoned the act by maintaining that it was ‘in accordance with Sharia’. This
was followed by other attacks. The policy of appeasement of terrorists has
emboldened them and their supporters. While jI chief Munawwar Hasan
extolled Hakeemullah Mehsud, what he said about the soldiers defending the
country was highly denigrating and amounted to spreading disaffection
among the armed forces. Equally unfortunate was the unqualified support
extended to its leader by the jI Shura.
There is an urgent need on the part of the PML-n to dissociate itself from
the stand taken by the jI chief. Time has come for the government to revise
its policy of talks with the TTP. after a virtual declaration of war by the
network against the state, the government has to take foolproof measures to
provide security to the people. What is more it must take an initiative to force
the TTP to surrender arms and enter into talks on government’s own terms.

delay in lg polls

I

not ideal but necessary given the circumstances

T has become like a game of ping pong, holding of Local Government
elections that is. but instead of just two players it is being played by a
multitude of players. There are political parties who have demands as per
their specific vested interests. There are provincial governments which are
unable to proceed with the elections owing to a lack of resources and
manpower. There is the ECP which seems unable to make up its mind if it
would go ahead with elections or not. There is the national assembly which
has shown its unwillingness to go ahead with LG polls. but then there is the
Supreme Court which appears determined to have the polls before the end of
this year.
and now the latest move by the ECP makes it even more bizarre. a
couple of days ago, the na had passed a resolution, which interestingly was
supported by all parties in the parliament, stating that holding LG polls in
such a short time was impossible for the government. The ECP apparently
agrees with the na resolution as it is going to the SC with the intention of
stating its inability to hold the polls according to the schedule (nov 27 in
Sindh, Dec 7 in Punjab and baluchistan) already announced by it. Last month
the SC had ordered the ECP to conduct polls by Dec 7 which then undertook
preparations for the arduous task. but then the na threw a spanner in the
works with its resolution but interestingly the ECP had rejected na’s stance
and was adamant on moving ahead with the exercise. but, on Sunday, the
Commission did have a change of heart when it found out that preparations in
Punjab and Sindh lagged too far behind to make it possible. Sindh hasn’t
even started laying basic preparation work while preparations in Punjab had
to make an adjustment after the court’s order of holding LG polls in the
province on party basis. The transfer of chief secretary Sindh and MD
Printing Corporation of Pakistan, despite a ban put on by the ECP, haven’t
helped matters either.
Holding LG polls is ideally the next step in cementing a democratic setup
in the country. However, the exercise would lose its significance if it creates
more problems than it is meant to solve. The SC should let the ECP announce
a new schedule after consultation with provincial governments to ensure a
smooth sailing for the largest polling exercise in the country.

HE region around Pakistan,
extending from South asia
to West asia and the arab
world is in a state of flux.
Perhaps for the first time
after the end of the Cold War a couple of
decades back, the changes in most part
signal a fundamental shift in alignments
and power correlations involving not
only the regional countries but also the
united States, Europe, Russia, China
and to some extent japan.
Take the case of the 34-year-old acrimony and virtual collapse of relations between Tehran and Washington consequent
to the hostage crisis after the success of
the Islamic Revolution in Iran. The snow
is melting between the two sides after the
celebrated telephone conversation between Presidents Rouhani and Obama.
On an even more positive note, all
indications are that the uS has at long
last come to live with the reality that Iran
has to right to acquire the ways and
means for peaceful application of selfgenerated nuclear energy. That is no
mean achievement for Tehran.
That in itself is a game changer. For,
Iran has over the course of the past 12
years demonstrated it to the world,
through resolute determination, national
will and dextrous diplomacy, any country
in the world can actually acquire nuclear
power – regardless of all kinds of sanctions imposed by the united nations, the
united States and the European union.

Editor’s mail

The brave nation of Iran has of
course had to pay a very high price for
this defiance. Over the past year or so in
particular, the common people have suffered through inflation, loss of jobs with
the closure of industries and other business-related enterprises, shortages of
food as also life-saving medicines.
I have a friend from Iran who is currently doing his PhD at the Quaid-iazam university here in Islamabad.
Madi Kazemian, a journalist by profession, told me the other day that he had
lost an uncle in Iran because he could not
be provided treatment for cancer. The
media has also been reporting a large
number of deaths for the same reason of
unavailability of requisite medicines.
a most heartening spill-over consequence of the thaw between Iran and the
united States has been the increasing
marginalization of Israel. at the same
time, the uS-Saudi arabia alliance of
sorts is on the verge of collapse on account of Riyadh’s dismay at improvement
of relations between Iran and america.
On the other hand, the Syrian situation has not gone the uS way, thanks to
the tough stance taken by President
Putin. It may be noted in passing that
Putin has recently expressed Russia’s
desire to increase bilateral ties with Pakistan and improve relations in other
fields. Putin, incidentally, has come to
be the world’s most influential person
beating Obama in the Forbes ratings.
yet another crucial change has been
the comeback staged by the Egyptian
army. That has also been seen as a setback for Saudi arabia. not to be overseen in this narrative is the reported offer
by Iran to supply free of cost oil to India
to help keep its refineries going.
The wholesome promise of improvement of Pakistan’s relations with Iran,
too, seems like a closed chapter. That is
very unfortunate. We have buckled
under Saudi pressure and threat of repatriation of a large number of Pakistani
workers from the Kingdom.
That need not and should not have
been the case. Prime Minister nawaz

Sharif’s government is dithering on the
foreign front. The time calls for abandoning of Pakistan’s traditionally reactive foreign policy, or else we stand to lose out on
the opportunities being provided by the
regional matrix. This writer had pointed
out to the government quite some time
back not to entertain high hopes of an
early improvement of relations with India.
That is exactly what we have witnessed. Here is a quote from Salman
Khurshid’s statement in Melbourne on
november 11: “but the on-the-ground
reality and the results of our meetings
are very disappointing. Pakistan has a lot
of very, very difficult issues to deal with
at home. Our view is that we should give
them time – not at our cost, of course,
but that we should give them the benefit
of the doubt.”
Is that the kind of treatment we are
so keen to get at the hands of Indians?
again, the PML-n needs to pause and
ponder before bringing further humiliation to the people of Pakistan that have
voted this party into power.
as for Saudi arabia, apart from the
reasons given above for capitulating to
its diktat, there seems to be another factor at work here as well. That has to do
with the person of Prime Minister
nawaz Sharif who spent long years of
exile in the Kingdom.
If he feels indebted to them for the
hospitality afforded him, it is a personal
matter for him. We as a nation owe no
such debt to the Saudis. The nation
should not be made to pay such a heavy
price as estrangement with Iran yet again.
The price has become many times
more when the sectarian influence and
its doings are also taken into account.
and, that is the innocent blood being
shed day in and day out. That should be
unacceptable.
Ghani Jafar is a senior journalist
and analyst. His latest book is on Iran’s
nuclear programme, “Iran and the
bomb: nuclear Club busted”, which has
recently been published. He can be
reached at: ghanijafar@yahoo.co.uk.

listen to your body
Why is it so important to speak up? Why can’t I keep my
mouth shut like everyone else? Why do I discuss all this in
public when I know people will raise strange questions? The
answer to all these questions is simple. I want the woman of
today to understand that her life is precious. I want every one
of us to understand how common breast cancer is and the
risks involved. I want everyone to understand the importance
of self-examination and early diagnosis and treatment. I don’t
want anyone to go through the agony I went through, my
husband went through and my children went through and are
still going through. I don’t want any other mother to hear the
scared teary voice of her son asking “Is my mother going to
die” or “what happens when someone dies, does that person
ever come back”. Definitely you don’t want this to happen.
So create awareness around you, be brave enough to speak up.
Two and a half years back when I was a 31-year-old
lactating mother of a six-month-old baby I felt a lump in my
right breast, went to a surgeon, she examined me and told me
that this was something benign. but soon I started having a
backache and that a really bad one. Tried changing my bed,
took vitamin D and calcium, changed my driving posture,
took pain killers but nothing worked. I found a fair solution to
my backache; I started taking painkillers every night which
helped me get out of bed in a slightly better condition. but my
big fat ego would not let me complain or rest. a week later I
started to have blackouts while driving and severe headache.
again I had easy solution with painkillers and some change in
diet. but now I had started to dread that this was something bad.
at the same time I felt a rubbery swelling in my right arm
pit. I took antibiotics for a week fearing some infection. It did
not go away. This was it. I came home from work the next
day, took a shower, put my boys in the car and went to the
hospital and asked another doctor to get my FnaC (fine
needle aspiration cytology). My reports revealed it to be
malignant lump and when I went to Shaukat Khanum
Memorial Hospital I was found to be having secondries
(Mets) in my spine, ribs and liver. I was diagnosed with a
stage IV breast cancer.
Till today I have undergone three sessions of
chemotherapy, spinal and hip radiation and got my ovaries
removed surgically at SKMCH&RC. Despite all this, I’m
working as a senior registrar at a hospital. The lesson for all

women from what happened to me should be to listen to your
body. Do not ignore even the faintest symptom you find. It
could save your life.
DR MADEEHA SHAKEEL
Faisalabad

real treachery
It is we who were responsible for opening our borders to
world’s treacherous mercenaries and terrorists to walk in to
fight the Russians in afghanistan. Had afghanistan been
under Soviet union’s influence, Pakistan would have been a
beneficiary of military, political and financial support of uSa
and its allies. How is Russian occupation or influence in
afghanistan not justified but american control is?
Of course families of few greedy generals, like Zia,
akhtar abdur Rehman, Khaqan abbasi, Mansoor-ul-Haq,
would not have gone overnight from rags to riches, nor could
warlords of afghanistan have benefitted, nor would the world
have had terrorists like Osama bin Laden or Zawahiri, nor
50,000 Pakistanis would have been slaughtered in senseless
barbarity perpetrated by the likes of Hakimullah, Fazalullah
and Sufi etc. We allowed ourselves to be used by america for
avenging their defeat in Vietnam.
It is time we set our own house in order. Ensure that
corruption is eradicated and those caught given exemplary
punishments. Our own people handed over thousands of our
citizens to naTO forces in exchange for petty cash rewards.
Why should we blame India, Israel and others for funding
insurgency and terrorism within our borders when we
ourselves created environment for this abuse of our
sovereignty and made rule of law subservient to the greed of few.
If only Pakistan state and establishment were to levy
taxes on all citizens earning above a threshold, we could have
eradicated or controlled illiteracy in Pakistan, provided
welfare to most deprived and prevented them from being
exploited by terrorists. Why don’t we understand that as long
as the destiny of Pakistan and its policies are decided by those
who have split loyalties (individuals with dual nationalities),
this country would forever be faced with financial instability
while its scarce resources continue to be sent abroad by the
powerful corrupt?
MALIK TARIQ ALI
Lahore

After much prayerful consideration, I feel
that I must say I have climbed my last
political mountain. –George C Wallace

10

coMMenT

C

Tuesday, 12 november, 2013

the caste
system of
garlands
why not give husband and wife
the same-size welcome?

b

EWaRE the mistake
you think you haven’t
made, particularly if it
seems innocuous. The
unconscious slip reveals far more
than vigorously polished truth, or
indeed a lie carelessly exposed.
Decipher the cipher and you could
well discover a lump of golden illumination. This is as true of social
gaffe as of political combat.
you could look for deep truths
on gender bias in modern India in
some doctoral thesis; an easier option might be to check out the photograph of Prince Charles and his
second wife, Camilla Parker
M J AKBAR
bowles, standing stiffly to attention
at the jolly Grant airport in Dehra Dun, festooned with garlands, en route to
Rishikesh. It isn’t high art. at best the destination might be of passing interest
to a few rightwing british journalists who, after giggling at the jolly name,
are still searching for a reason to plunge a pen into the back of their future
monarch for having the temerity to talk to plants and do native things like an
arti on the Ganga. Those whose cultural horizon does not extend too far beyond the curve of a sausage at breakfast and the froth of beer at teatime, can
get pretty florid about foreign faiths dressed in saffron or green.
Indians should examine the Charles-Camilla photograph for a more
valid reason. Charles has been garlanded with strands that descend to his
knees. Camilla’s merely nudges her belly button. Even in these inflationary
times, the price difference between the two garlands cannot be very much.
Why not give husband and wife the same-size welcome? because we Indians do not treat men and women as equals.
Such a simple inference would not readily occur to Indians, let alone
Indians in office. Government treats precedence as a security blanket, and
its protocol has been set by past winners of the Pomposity Cup. Where else
in the world would the railway ministry suspend two officials because they
did not lay the required red carpet close enough to the august, blessed feet
of His Luxurious Highness Minister Mallikarjun Kharge? Incredible India!
Changing the rules might be easier than changing behaviour in a land with
such a stern pecking order. Distinctions thrive in family, politics and
bureaucracy – determined by tradition, or power or wealth. The chief
guest at any function, preferably a
minister, always gets a few more
flowers in his bouquet than others
on the dais, who are kept in their
place by the deficient cluster in their
lap. The flowers might be from the
nearest cemetery, but the chief will
get more. The higher you go, the
more rigid the hierarchy.
jairam Ramesh’s minor mistake was that while he paid homage
that is due to the chief, he broke the
law of omerta on survival issues.
His claim that narendra Modi
would be history if he lost the next
general elections, but Rahul
Gandhi would be around even if he
lost, is probably true. The bjP
gives its leaders their moment of
glory and spins them out if they do
not deliver, but Rahul Gandhi will
be perched atop the Congress even if he loses the next three general elections. jairam Ramesh merely wanted to inject his regular dose of loyalty
into media veins, but in politics you are not permitted to voice the unacceptable. He accepted that something was building around narendra Modi, even
if it might be bubble; and that is a big admission from a second-row Congress leader. Maybe jairam Ramesh should read fewer opinion polls.
just in case you were getting misled, the bjP has not always been as
kind to opinion polls as it is now. It might whoop a bit with each projection
this year, but discovered a distinct distaste for them when in april 2004 evidence of nDa decline started to turn euphoria into dread. all parties want
messengers who only bring good news. you can’t blame them. Who wants
to enter battle burdened with the omen of defeat? The greatest of warriors
checked their fortunes with astrologers, chicken entrails, coffee dregs or
tea leaves. Congress has begun to take its own form of preemptive protection, by rigging up alliances where its vote has collapsed. The price, however, goes up when you are down. and so Mayawati, who learnt negotiation
from the business school of life, is taking payment in advance before she
does a deal by january with Congress in uttar Pradesh. Cases against her
have been withdrawn. Her brother anand Kumar has got back Rs400 crores
in fixed deposits which were seized by the income tax department. and she
is a bungalow or two richer in pricey Delhi. not bad. Even if she loses, she
has won. bribery is India’s most creative art form.
Mayawati doesn’t make mistakes. She lets others make them.

am not an expert on Iran (or for that
matter, anything else), but it is clear
that the uS and Israel alike fear its autonomy as a factor in structuring the
political-military situation in the Middle East
and global power-relations in general. america is Israel’s ally, obviously; less obvious,
the uS thereby has established a sphere of influence in the region, beyond considerations
of oil, which allows it a viable military presence to gain influence (i.e., attempt to regulate internal affairs to its own advantage) over
a far wider sweep of territory. Djibouti with
its drone base is both symbol and concrete
example of the uS presence and penetration,
taking in north africa, Southern Europe, and,
meanwhile, partially checking Russia in the
region and forming a jumping-off place for
directly pressuring China, from West to East
(the Obama Pacific-First strategy, already
backed by naval power and long-range aircraft, exerting even stronger pressure, East to
West). In sum, the Middle East (a) must be
left a cauldron so as to provide pretext for uS
military activity, and (b), become the geopolitical center for confronting, simultaneously,
Russia and China. Iran’s neutralization (if not
worse) is the precondition for both.
It ill-behooves Israel to obstruct a settlement, given its own nuclearization of armed
power, wrapped in absolute secrecy, but that
is expected, its democratic pretensions long
ago abandoned, not only with respect to the
Palestinians, but also, aligning with world
Rightist currents against indigenous popular
movements and struggles. Its capacity for
stirring the pot of international conflict, the
uS its compliant servant, is boundless. yet,
compliant servant or not, the uS, in reciprocal fashion, uses Israel for its own grandiose
ends, the aforementioned geopolitical framework a case in point. uS hegemony, a phase
truly operable only for the half-century following World War Two, has come to an unceremonious end, with the rise and reality of
a multipolar world capable of resisting
american unilateral leadership. The massive
eavesdropping is symptomatic of uS desperation in resisting dislodgement from the top
of the power pyramid. and the flashes of
anger in response is itself indication that the
“friends and allies” theme, in order to marshal military and diplomatic support for uS
interventions, is starting to wear thin.
The Colossus of Washington, despite its
comparative youth in world historical terms,
is now becoming senescent, its industrial capacity diminishing, its infrastructure crumbling, etc., only its military power

enlarging—america, a fearful, neurotic
shell, and volatile core. Other nations are already planning areas of disengagement, to
which the uS in its determined quest for
forcing European and Pacific Trading Partnerships (again, on its own terms, e.g., no
restriction on tobacco products in the Far
East), is making reply—in the long-term, to
what avail? Obama’s blatant militarism, as
in armed-drone assassination and fuller employment of paramilitary operations directed
to hemispheric supervision and regime
change in general, will not suffice to stave
off political-economic-ideological decline
in the world (while making ideological
conformity at home a number-one priority,
as a cloak to cover militarily-aggressive
policies abroad and the failure of societal
democratization in america).
Why, then, Iran? In part, the uS declining
fortunes fosters the conviction in fallingdomino theory. It becomes imperative to take
stands, to enhance the nation’s “credibility,”
as when Obama draws red lines in the sand
verifying his and america’s credentials of
toughness. Failure to stand up to Iran invites
charges of weakness (yes, the Cold-War mentality is alive and well in 21st century america). but then there is China, and perhaps,
collectively, Latin america, and the European
union—where will it all end? a further explanation for why Iran, turns on the obverse of
the falling-domino theory, the militarization
of american capitalism: Strangelovian juices
are needed to keep the system operating at
supposedly peak-performance, although given
the inevitable military outlays, the social
safety net will suffer and class-differentiation
will widen dramatically. Hold the line, therefore! Prevent Iran from loosening the noose
around its neck, and keep Israel, and now
more vocally, Saudi arabia, happy, at the
same time, warning Russia and China the Exclusive Superpower is here to stay, prepared
to move pieces around the chess board of
power politics in order to maintain that status.
My New York Times Comments on
Michael R. Gordon and Mark Landler, “Roadblocks Remain as Officials Work Toward
Iranian nuclear Pact” (nov. 8), and Landler
and Gordon, “Talks With Iran Fail to Produce
a nuclear agreement” (nov. 10), follow:
I: before praising POTuS and Sec. Kerry
for taking a more constructive stance on Iran,
we should step back and recognize that
Catherine ashton in forcing the uS hand is
performing a similar role to that of Putin, in
preventing a uS attack on Syria. In both
cases, the uS sanctions regime, and bombing
Syria, the world community (minus Israel and
the Saudis, themselves strange bedfellows)
would strongly disapprove anD no doubt the

Eu would no longer cooperate on sanctions.
The uS/Israel hard line on Iran is destined to fail. Obama and Kerry realize this,
netanyahu, in his brazen disregard for
world opinion, does not. Israeli belligerence further confirms its growing pariah
status in the international community.
Thrown out of unESCO and continuing
settlement constructions suggest a savoring
of that status, the desire to be a world
spoiler. It’s not working.
Given Obama and Kerry’s sordid record
on intervention, drone assassination, and
the globalization of market fundamentalism
(trade agreements, both Europe and the Pacific Partnerships), it is clear that the uS is
adamant about national self-interest, so that
this break in the clouds with respect to Iran
is less to their credit than it is testimony to
Eu disgust with uS policymaking. nSa
global eavesdropping is, of course, a factor
in that disgust. Like Israel, america, by its
actions, is fast losing friends–perhaps soon
we will see the breakup of naTO. The
Saudi-Israeli stance on Iran and Syria will
also prove harmful.
II: It is hard for a nation to negotiate
with a gun pointed to its head. Rather than
a quid pro quo, I should like to see the Eu,
with or without uS blessings, break ranks
and lift for a set period the oil embargo and
economic sanctions–say, three months of
total abrogation of the sanctions regime,
which lifts the gun and allows Iran to maintain its honor while moving toward compromise and/or agreement.
The two obvious spoilers are Israel and
the uS Congress, neither of which should
be allowed to wreck a settlement, although,
patently, neither wants other than extreme
punitiveness with respect to Iran. The world
must move on, the spoilers notwithstanding.
Iran perceives itself being ganged up on,
and with its new leadership it deserves the
chance to resume membership in the international community. Sanctions hurt not a
government, but the people–we have no
data on the suffering incurred, but a whole
generation feels the pain, a condition which
can only result in long-term hostility and a
push toward extremism.
netanyahu and Obama (with Kerry the
messenger boy) seek a Middle East paradigm entirely one-sided, ensuring perpetual
conflict in the region.
Norman Pollack is a Harvard PhD and
the author of “The Populist Response to
Industrial america” (Harvard) and “The
just Polity” (Illinois), Guggenheim Fellow,
and Professor Emeritus, History, Michigan
State University.

All parties want
messengers who
only bring good
news. You can’t
blame them. Who
wants to enter battle
burdened with the
omen of defeat?

Mobashar Jawed Akbar is a leading Indian journalist and author. He
is the Editor-in-Chief of The Sunday Guardian. He has also served as
Editorial Director of India Today.

A

11

Plans are nothing;
planning is everything
— Dwight D. Eisenhower

when deePikA
kicked Srk

ARTS
Tuesday, 12 november, 2013

AAmir khAn
APPArently the
ideAl huSbAnd

According to Indian media reports
Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan
celebrated his wife Kiran Rao’s birthday
in Assam.The ‘Dhobi Ghat’ director
wanted to visit Assam and had
mentioned to her husband many times
before. Mr. Perfectionist decided to
surprise Rao on her 40th birthday by
fulfilling her wish. Just two days before
her birthday, he faked a meeting in
Delhi, and asked Rao to accompany
him. Once on the flight, Rao was
shocked to discover her friends and
relatives already present. The ‘Talaash’
actor reportedly contacted her friends
and family three months back to block
the dates for the seven-day trip which
Kiran had no hint about. He also
secretly managed to pack bags of Kiran
and his son Azaad. Moreover, Directors
Karan Johar and Ayan Mukerji were also
present at the get-together and were
reportedly the only ones from the
Bollywood fraternity. NEWS DESK

Liev Shreiber and Naomi Watts take a stroll with their kids, Samuel and Sasha,
who rocked bubble coats and bright pink sunglasses for the occasion.

Thieves take away 160 sheep
Wool's wool is missing

Police in southwest England
appealed for help Tuesday in
tracking down thieves who made
off with 160 sheep from a field
near the village of Wool. Police
say the sheep were stolen
between Saturday and Monday,
and that the thieves would have
needed a large vehicle to move
the woolly haul. Constable
adam Taylor says all of the
sheep were electronically
tagged. He is urging anyone who
has witnessed suspicious activity
— or been offered sheep "in
unusual circumstances or for
very low prices" — to come
forward. NEWS DESK

l

EaDInG lady has always
been a bit of a misnomer in
big-budget
bollywood.
Whenever top heroes are either greenlighting their own
productions, or signing on with studios for their heavily publicised inanticipation projects, that’s where
things end. a heroine is almost always an afterthought, and almost always replaceable by another. Stories
are written for stars. and a mass audience comes to see a Shah Rukh
film. Or a Salman film. The heroine
could be Priyanka or Kareena or Katrina: same difference. What does
she have to do anyway? She never
gets an entry (the classic “arrival of
hero” shot which introduces the
leading man to roars and yells and
claps from fans). She never gets to
grab screen space by herself: sharing it will be the hero or the villain
or the comic or the sidekick. The
only time she gets everyone’s eye
trained on her is when she is poured
into a bikini, and climbs out
sloooowly, glistening rivulets dripping tantalisingly down her body.

What I am waiting for is this
bikinied lass to sashay past the hero
whose gaze we have been forced to
share, as it bores into her delectable
soft parts, and plant herself in front
of a full-length mirror. and blow
herself a kiss, reserving a raspberry
for the guy she’s left behind. yes,
that would be a thing. but who
knows when that will happen? For
the moment, we’ve had to be content with one, OnE, sequence that a
leading lady has solely inhabited
fully in 2013. With great gusto and
appetite. and made us suddenly
aware of her as her, not just as
someone with a set of curves to be
whistled at. That’s when Deepika
Padukone gets up from a bed in
Chennai Express, kicking and
thrashing (her hero, Shah Rukh
Khan utters a few mock-panicky
lines and then gamely gets out of the
way), and throws herself into a
paithyam punna (batty girl) act. She
pulls a series of faces, without really
caring how she’s looking. She flails
her arms. She thrums her feet on the
bed. She uses her voice. NEWS DESK

how times chAnge!
PG-13 MOVIES ARE NOW MORE VIOLENT
THAN R-RATED '80S FLICKS –STUDY
Movies from the 1980s like “Terminator” or
“Die Hard” were rated R at the time of their
release – but if they were released today,
they’d probably be rated PG-13, a new study
suggests. That's because PG-13 movies
today — such as “The Hunger Games” or
“The avengers” — contain more violence
than the R-rated films of the 1980s, according to a new report published today in the
journal Pediatrics. In particular, gun violence in PG-13 films has tripled since 1985,
the year the PG-13 rating was first introduced. and overall, violence in movies has
nearly quadrupled since the 1950s.
Psychologists say it’s a worrisome
trend that we should take seriously, because
there is evidence that watching violence on
screen increases aggression in real life. “Of
course it’s not the only factor, and it may
not even be the most important factor, but
it isn’t a trivial factor — and it’s one we can
change," says brad bushman, an Ohio
State university psychologist and lead author of the new report. bushman and colleagues analyzed 945 popular films
released from 1950 to 2012. Each movie
was among the 30 top-grossing films of
that year, and they randomly chose 15 of
those top 30 movies to scrutinize. undergrads watched every film and counted
every violent act — they defined a violent
sequence as “physical acts where the aggressor makes or attempts to make some
physical contact with the intention of causing injury or death.” They found that since
2009, PG-13 movies have featured as much
or more violence than the R-rated films released those same years. and in 2012, there

was more gun violence in PG-13 films than
in the R-rated ones out that year. Take the
“Die Hard” sequels. One of the films the
undergrads analyzed was 1990’s “Die Hard
2,” which was rated R. but a later sequel in
the series, 2007’s “Live Free or Die Hard,”
actually had more gun violence and a comparable amount of overall violence—and
yet it was rated PG-13. Same idea with the
“Terminator” movies: The third one in the
series, “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,” was included in the study— it got
an R rating in 2003. but they found that it
had less gun violence than 2009’s “Terminator Salvation,” which received a PG-13
rating. One more example that really
jumped out at study co-author Dan Romer
was the famously violent 1987 film “The
untouchables.”
“It had gun violence in it that was
comparable to a lot of the movies we’re
calling PG-13 in the last five years,” says
Romer, director of the adolescent Communication Institute at the university of
Pennsylvania's annenberg Public Policy
Center. “I wouldn’t be surprised if ‘The
untouchables’ today would get a PG-13.”
He thinks the same would apply to the
Eddie Murphy comedy “beverly Hills
Cop,” which was rated R in 1984, but
feels more like today’s PG-13 movies in
terms of violence.
“There are exceptions, but in the topgrossing films, over 90 percent of them
have some violence,” Romer says. “Violence is very good for Hollywood. and
PG-13 is good for Hollywood, because it
doesn’t restrict anyone from going into

the theater.”
There are a few things that might explain the remarkable rise in violence in
PG-13 films. Ratings are determined by
the Motion Picture association of america
— which means, bushman says, they’re
“assigned by the industry. and a movie
rated PG-13 will attract more theatergoers
than an R, of course, because kids can go
see it. Romer also thinks the rise in sci-fi
and comic book movies has something to
do with it —violence may be easier for us
to handle if it’s got a fantasy element to it.
and violence is understandable in every
language, which means violence-fueled
action movies are more marketable overseas than comedies. The researchers also
examined graphic sexual scenes in the
movies they analyzed, and found that sex
was much more likely to earn a film an Rrating than violence. “Take a film like

‘Ted.’ There’s hardly any violence in that.
but because he has sex—not even very
graphic sex, they just show him having sex
— that gets an R,” Romer says. It's worth
noting that there is also a lot of crude language in that movie, which can also garner
a film an R rating. “(Sex) consistently gets
an R rating if it’s at all explicit, but that’s
not the case with violence," Romer says.
We don’t like the idea that violent movies
—or TV shows or video games — influence our behavior. but many studies have
suggested that they do. One often-cited
1967 study found that the mere sight of a
gun made people act with more hostility,
deciding to deliver a harsher electric shock
to another study participant. More than 50
other studies since have found similar evidence of the “weapons effect” — the idea
that just seeing a weapon can increase aggression.

“People tell me all the time, I watch violent media and I’ve never killed anyone.
Well, big deal. nobody kills anyone; murder is a very rare event,” says bushman.
“So you’ve never murdered anyone. What
I want to know is —how do you treat other
people?” Watching violent images doesn’t
always make us more likely to want to
punch things; it can also make us less
likely to help people in need, bushman
found in a 2009 study. This is true for all
of us, but psychologists agree that children
are particularly vulnerable. bushman
would like to eventually see movie ratings
in the u.S. decided by a panel that includes
child psychologists, with ratings that
clearly spell out which ages the movie is
appropriate for. but until then, parents who
are worried about their kids seeing violent
images on screen can take a few pages
from bushman’s book. NEWS DESK

I'd like to grow up and be beautiful.
I know it doesn't matter, but it
doesn't hurt — Kirsten Dunst

n auction house is providing a rare
opportunity to buy a 500-year-old
piece of natural history by selling
bones from a dodo bird for the
first time in 80 years. The leg and
pelvis from the flightless bird, which died out in
the mid-17th century, represent the first opportunity to purchase a complete part of the animal's
skeleton since 1934. The anonymous vendor is
believed to be one of only three people left in the
world who privately own dodo bones, with most
now on display in museums.
The pair were part of a large collection of remains discovered by a british schoolmaster 220
years after the bird became extinct. In 1886
George Clarke went to Mauritius, the only place
the dodo is said to have lived, and hired slaves
to wade through a swamp and feel for the bones
with their feet. The leg and pelvis, which are
being sold by Summers Place auctions of
billingshurst in West Sussex, are said to be

World’s cheapest
phone dreams
world domination

While apple and Google fans coo over
the latest high-end smartphones, rival alcatel is focussing its attention on the opposite end of the market by launching the
world’s cheapest handset. The alcatel
1010 costs just £5 and comes with a builtin MP3 player, 3Mb of memory and a
wireless FM radio. Customers are also
not obliged to top up a minimum amount
of credit when they buy the phone, as is
the case with other budget devices.
However, the handset is not designed
for tech-savvy customers and is classed as
a 'feature' phone, as opposed to a smartphone. It doesn’t have social networking
applications or games, for example, and
only makes and receives calls and text
messages. Customers will be able to buy
the phone from asda and it is only available on the T-Mobile network as part of the
deal. The phone weighs 59g - half the
weight of apple’s latest iPhone 5S - and

comes in black, Deep Red or Fascinating
Red, which is more like maroon. Earlier
this year PrePayMania.co.uk was selling
the alactel One Touch 232 for just £1, but
it had to be bought with £10 worth of
credit. Claire Mcauley mobile phone
buyer at asda said: ‘Purse strings are
stretched ahead of the festive season.
‘a quarter of mums are budgeting
more than ever and our customers are always looking for new ways to save money.
‘We've launched the lowest priced phone
as a solution to keeping in touch at the lowest cost possible this Christmas and are expecting shoppers of all ages to snap them
off the shelves.’ There has been a surge in
companies offering ‘cheap’ and ‘cut-price’
gadgets recently in the run up to Christmas.
Last month Tesco launched its 7-inch Hudl
android tablet worth £119 - yet with Clubcard vouchers, customers could buy the device for as little as £40. NEWS DESK

worth more than £30,000 together and are both
in excellent states of preservation. Earlier this
year, a fragment of a femur was sold for £8,000
by auction house Christie's in London. Dodos
were first spotted by Dutch sailors who arrived
on the Indian Ocean isle in 1598, but the final
sighting was only 64 years later in 1662.
While it is thought they were hunted to extinction by humans, another belief is that
macaque monkeys plundered dodo nests after
being introduced on Mauritius. Errol Fuller, a
natural history expert and curator for the auction, said: 'Most dodo bones that exist today
were found in a swamp in Mauritius by
George Clarke. 'The remains went to museums
and private collectors but over the years they
have gradually gravitated to museums. 'Only
about 10 museums in the world have a complete dodo skeleton and most of them are composites. 'Physical remains of the bird in private
hands today hardly exist. There are only two

or three people in the world privately who
have dodo bones.
'The last complete dodo bone was sold in
1934 in London. There will be a lot of interest
in these two items. There are dodo fans all over
the world and there are lots of them.
around 200 years after they had died out,
dodo birds started to gain a mythical status due
to Victorian author Lewis Carroll.
He was inspired to write the creature into
alice's adventures in Wonderland after seeing
the head of one at a museum in Oxford. Mr
Fuller added: 'The dodo was so extreme looking
yet nobody really took much notice of them until
the 1860s when Lewis Carroll wrote about one
in alice in Wonderland. 'That generated an interest in the bird that has never ceased. If you go to
Mauritius today you can by souvenir dodo Tshirts and ashtrays. 'and of course the dodo is
regarded as a symbol of extinction, mainly due
to the saying 'dead as a dodo.' NEWS DESK

utah loves redford!

utah’s governor and other top officials
honored Robert Redford on Saturday night
for his on-camera and off-camera
contributions to the state as owner of the
Sundance ski resort and founder of the
Sundance Film Festival and Sundance
Institute. Some of the 77-year-old Redford’s
movies, including “butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid” and “jeremiah johnson,”
were filmed in utah. “I think we take him
for granted,” said Gov. Gary Herbert. “He’s
been here for so long, and he’s been so
successful. It’s really quite remarkable, and
yet he calls utah home. I’m appreciative of
that. I think utah is a better place because
Robert Redford does call utah home.”
Redford noted that he and elected officials in
the audience, many of them on the opposite
end of the political spectrum from him, share
common ground. “Whatever differences may
exist, we can all come together and agree on
one thing, and that’s our love of this state
and our country and the people,” the
environmental activist said. Herbert said it
was no easy task to get Redford to accept the
recognition. “I’ve been trying to do it for
about three years,” he said. “(He) likes his
privacy so he’s been a little reluctant to let
us honor him, but I’ve been working hard
and I think I wore him down.” NEWS DESK

Khloe Kardashian and Bruce Jenner hug it out at their charity yard sale
in Woodland Hills, Calif.

Man dies after drinking liquid meth worth $54,000
a british man has reportedly died after
accidentally drinking liquid methamphetamine from a bottle he thought contained a fruit juice, according to british
media outlets.
Romano Dias, a 55-year-old from
Cambridgeshire, England, fell ill after
consuming what he thought was a fruitbased drink given to him by his daughter,
Cambridge news reported. after drinking
half a glass, the man reportedly said it
tasted "awful" and began complaining of
a burning in his throat. He then purportedly said: “I am in trouble here. I am
dying, I am dead." It was later determined
the liquid was not juice, but $54,400
(£34,000) worth of pure methamphetamine, according to Cambridge news. The
bottle was delivered to Dias' daughter's
home some three years ago under the correct address but a wrong name. She kept
the package for months and eventually

gave it to her father. Detective Inspector
Ian Simmons said, due to the high value
of the contents, officials believe the bottle

was destined for a drug dealer who may
have been planning to introduce meth to
the area.

This is not the first time the drug has
been disguised as an everyday beverage.
Meth is typically found in solid form, but

traffickers are apparently developing new
ways to transport the drug. When distributors receive the liquid substance, they
convert it into crystal meth, the Denver
Post noted. Rob Saccone, a supervisor
with the Drug Enforcement administration, told the paper that eight pounds of
the liquid yields about four pounds of the
crystal form. In august, 15 people were
indicted on suspicion of transporting liquid methamphetamine across the Mexican border in sealed drink bottles and in
wiper fluid reservoirs, the Denver Post
reported. The most common ingredients
found in meth include acetone, lithium,
hydrochloric acid and anhydrous ammonia, according to the Meth Project Foundation. The drug releases dopamine
rapidly in the brain, producing an intense
euphoria. Dangers can include addiction,
heart palpitations, paranoia, insomnia,
seizure and stroke. NEWS DESK

b De Villiers became the South
african to 6,000 ODI runs, in
147 innings, and in getting
there, scored a century to form
the backbone of South africa’s
innings. His was a knock of two halves - the

EXPERTS COMMENT
ON THE MATCH
SHOAIB AkHtER
akhtar vociferously criticised the team
and board policies as Pakistan lost by
117 runs in the final match of the series.
“See, this is how we throw away a
match and a series,” he said.
IAn BISHOp
Pakistan’s batting is fragile and, in
spicier conditions, will need to
harden up if they are to pose a
challenge. In this match, they lost 3
for 17 upfront and 5 for 23 - Wayne
Parnell celebrating his recall with
lower-order wickets - towards the
end to turn the last match into an
entirely one-sided affair.

first circumspect, and the second aggressive
on a surface that was difficult for batting. It
was in the latter part of the innings that he took
the game away from Pakistan.
In that portion of his knock, de Villiers
shared an 83-run sixth-wicket stand with Ryan
McLaren to transform South africa’s effort
from ordinary to outstanding. They were the
only batsmen to manage fluency on the slow
track against a Pakistan attack that were far
more comfortable here than they were in abu
Dhabi.
The captain started slowly, formed key
partnerships with and and rotated strike to
give South africa’s new-look attack
something to bowl to. With Dale Steyn,
Morne Morkel and Imran Tahir rested,

QUAID-E-AZAM TROPHY 2013-14

lahore secure
resounding win
LAHORE: Multan’s lower-order collapse on the final day, triggered by
pacer Mohammad Saeed’s four-wicket haul, resulted in an eight-wicket at
the hands of Lahore Shalimar, who brushed aside a 76-run target and
moved to second place in Group II. Lahore Shalimar won the toss and
chose to bowl, and were handed an immediate advantage when took seven
wickets to dismiss Multan for 69. In spite of a shaky start, Lahore Shalimar
grabbed a substantial first-innings lead, posting 282, built around’s maiden
first-class hundred. The no. 9 batsman scored 113 off 114 balls with 16
fours and four sixes. Offspinner Haziq Habibullah was the pick of the
Multan bowlers, returning first-innings figures of 4 for 81. Faced with a
213-run deficit, and with a risk of an innings defeat at 117 for 4, Multan
staged a recovery led by. Rasheed’s 170-ball 89 had 11 fours and
contributions from abdul Rehman Muzammil (47) and openers usman
Liaqat and ahad Raza helped Multan clear the deficit. However,
Mohammad Saeed struck with a four-wicket haul to skittle Multan out for
288 as the batting side lost its last six wickets for 38. The Lahore openers
put on a 55-run stand in pursuit of the 76-run target and the side needed just
18 overs to complete an eight-wicket win. Mohammad bilawal finished
with match figures of 10 for 111, his maiden first-class ten-wicket haul,
while Saeed added to his first-innings tally to finish with a seven-wicket
match haul. a high-scoring match between Islamabad and Hyderabad
petered out in a in Islamabad. Put in to bat first, Islamabad scored 303,
helped by contributions from all batsmen, including a fifty from Moed
ahmed. Fast bowler Farhan ayub picked up six wickets for 106, but
regular partnerships between the Islamabad batsmen ensured they reached
a solid score. In reply, Hyderabad, powered by fifties from openers
Zeeshan Gul and Darya Khan eked out a slender 17-run lead. The openers
added 113 for the opening stand to notch up important innings where other
Hyderabad batsmen failed to convert their starts. Gul fell for 50, while
Darya Khan missed his maiden first-class hundred by five runs.
Hyderabad’s bowlers then gave their side a solid shot at victory, reducing
Islamabad to 56 for 5 in the second innings, before a lower-order rally saw
Islamabad climb to 200. Set a target of 184 runs, and running out of time,
Hyderabad stuttered to 41 for 5 in 21 overs by close of play. Shehzad azam,
the Islamabad fast bowler, picked up 4 for 29 in 11 overs. STAFF REPORT

Pakistan may still fancy their chances of
recording the first victory by a side batting
second in the series. However, they will need
to bat watchfully and pace their innings well.
South africa do not have the spinners
Pakistan possess so they cannot rely on turn
and drift but, as Mohammad Irfan showed,
sticking to a fuller length and taking pace off
the ball is key on this pitch. Irfan accounted
for Hashim amla in the first over when he hit
the opener on the front pad with a full delivery
that struck him in line with middle and off
stump.
amla considered a review but
erroneously decided against it. Replays
showed the ball had pitched outside leg stump.
That made it the fifth time Irfan has dismissed

amla in eight ODIs - the most any bowler has
accounted for his wicket.
Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis were
cautious against Sohail Tanvir but de Kock,
fresh off a century in the previous match,
sensed an opportunity to get runs off Irfan. He
took four consecutive fours off the bowler’s
third over - two of which were fortuitous
inside-edges - to force a change in Pakistan’s
bowling plans.
Saeed ajmal came in the seventh over and
tied the pair down before getting de Kock lbw.
jP Duminy lasted just five balls before falling
to Mohammad Hafeez, which left de Villiers
and du Plessis with a rebuilding job. With
Irfan bowling well in his second spell and
afridi testing the batsmen with tight lines, the

pair had to search for singles to avoid
stagnating.
They hit just three fours in the 16 overs
they were together and du Plessis in particular
seemed to grow frustrated. He could not get
the spinners away and eventually tried to send
junaid over mid-wicket, but miscued and was
caught at deep square leg.
David Miller, who also struggled against
spin, found the going difficult and offered
ajmal a decent return catch, leaving de Villiers
to steer South africa through the last ten overs.
De Villiers sent the first sign of intent off
ajmal, playing a short-arm pull for a six
through mid-wicket to bring up his halfcentury off 70 deliveries, with only a four and
that six.
Ryan McLaren provided the lower-order
support. He played a delicate glance and an
aggressive cut off Irfan, followed by three
fours off junaid in the 47th over, as the bowler
could not find his death-bowling length or
line. Tanvir was plagued by the same problem
and gave de Villiers a line on leg stump and a
full toss to feast on.

Stable Australia prepare
to unveil squad
POSSIBLE SQUAD

SYDNEY

AgENcIES

For once, it should not be necessary to scour leftfield. australia’s desire to carry stability and
continuity into the forthcoming ashes battle will be
reflected when the national selector, john Inverarity,
unveils the squad for the first Test in brisbane on
Tuesday, in a departure from the chaotic and
surprising choices that characterised the start of the
past two series against England.
unlike Xavier Doherty’s usurping of nathan
Hauritz in 2010, or the surprising selection of
ashton agar ahead of nathan Lyon at Trent bridge
earlier this year, there will be few hunches taken by
Inverarity’s panel, especially after the cricketers in
their ashes sights put in largely encouraging
displays in the round of first-class matches that
concluded on Saturday. and are heavily favoured
to be the additions to the XI who took the field at
The Oval, minus the injured Mitchell Starc.
Shane Watson’s likely inability to bowl at the
Gabba due to his recovery from a hamstring
problem has created the only element of uncertainty
around the team. as a result, the Tasmania
allrounder is expected to keep his place in the squad
after a debut in the final Test in England, with
conditions then weighed up before it is decided
whether to take four or five bowlers into the match.
This decision will be linked to the inclusion of
a sixth batsman, with bailey widely expected to take
his place in the squad after performing creditably
for Tasmania in his only Shield appearance since
returning from India. bailey’s selection would be

based as much on his outstanding ODI record and
leadership characteristics as his recent first-class
record. The elegant no. 3 batsman alex Doolan is
the other major candidate and also the most likely
inclusion should Watson’s recovery stall.
, and Lyon will form the core of the bowling
attack, while johnson and ben Hilfenhaus are to
fill the remaining places in the squad. Lyon’s
retention will make a welcome change from the spin
cycle of recent years, rewarding his strong displays
in the latter part of the ashes in England. There
remains some chance that the Queenslander ben
Cutting may be included as the final pace bowler
ahead of Hilfenhaus following his for australia a
against England in Hobart. Otherwise the team is
shaping up far more stable fashion than it did ahead
of either of the previous two ashes bouts, something
the captain, , acknowledged at the launch of his
ashes Diary at the SCG. “There’s no doubt there’s
a lot more stability in our teams … honestly I
believe if they’re going to pick 12 players then 11
of them are no-brainers,” Clarke said. “We’re
looking at probably one spot to know what our first
11 or first 12 are going to be for the Gabba.
“The exciting thing where we sit right now is
whether it be batters or bowlers, individual players
have stood up, have performed … guys have really
picked themselves, which is an impressive thing for
our team. It’s what Darren Lehmann and I asked our
team to do, to go back to state cricket and make sure
you were taking wickets or scoring runs to be in the
front of the selectors’ minds.” australia changed the
composition of their team for every Test match in
England, but the subsequent performances of those

who took part in the final match of that series has left
few places in doubt. among the batsmen, , , Watson,
Clarke and Steve Smith have all made runs in various
formats, while each of Harris, Siddle and Lyon have
been building their form to carefully tailored plans.
Clarke, who had noted Shane Warne’s recent
comments that he must keep working to improve
the team environment, said that communication,
trust and respect for differences had increased in
recent months. “I think the communication within
the team is outstanding at the moment, I think
everybody knows where we’re going, what we’re
trying to achieve and how we’re going to get there,”
he said. “I think everybody knows their own
personal role in the team as well, which is critical,
and I think ‘boof’ and myself are trying to create an
environment that allows each individual to be
themselves. “In our team now we’ve got a great mix
of some 20-year-old single boys, we’ve got brad, a
36-year-old married dad with three kids, so there’s
a huge gap in between and it’s about trying to setup an environment that allows each individual to be
themselves and feel comfortable. Part of Darren’s
and my job is to get the best out of each of them,
and you don’t do that on your own, you do that with
a lot of people around you.”

washout after 54.2 overs of the
series opener did not reveal the
condition of new Zealand's
young batting order, but both
captain Kyle Mills and batsmanTom Latham have backed the team to
chase down tall scores ahead of the second
match in Hambantota.
new Zealand were 13 for 1 in pursuit
of 289 when the rain came, and though
three of their top batsmen are missing from

this side, the visitors felt they were
favourites to win the first game. They
would have had to achieve the second-highest total for any team batting second at the
venue, but new ODI rules and expanding
match aggregates have made large totals
gettable, Latham said. "With the new rules
300 is probably par and to keep them to
280-odd was good," Latham said. "When
we were batting it was skidding on quite
nicely. We did back ourselves to chase it.
"I can't see the wicket changing too
much, but with the new rules - with only
four men out - those bigger scores are pos-

sible, and we've even seen you can chase
them down as well. We'll assess conditions
tomorrow and see what the par score is."
Mills also said he was "content" with
the position new Zealand had reached on
Sunday and expected the pitch to become
better for batting in the evening. a firing
middle order also bodes well for Tuesday's
match, he said. "under lights the wicket
can sometimes get a little bit quicker with
the dew and the sheen on the wicket,"
Mills said. "I thought that if we get a start,
we'd be in with an absolute chance. Our
guys (have) played a lot of cricket lately,

and we've got some batters who are in
some really good form - you've seen that
in the last few games."
both men also singled out Lasith Malinga as a particular threat to their top
order, given few of their batsmen have
faced him before. Malinga dismissed
anton Devcich in his first over, and had
his yorkers humming in the 2.2 overs he
bowled in the first match.
"The top three got a little sighting of
Malinga in the first match and hopefully
that experience can stand them in good
stead," Mills said. "He bowled pretty well
in his two-and-a-half overs in the first
match, and without a doubt he's a challenge. but he's always a challenge no matter where you play him in the world."
Latham, who faced 10 Malinga deliveries and scored four runs suggested defence would be his priority when playing
the fast bowler. "He was bowling death on
demand, which is quite hard to face with
it swinging at pace," Latham said. "He's
obviously one of their key bowlers and if
we can deny him as much as possible, and
look to take down their other bowlers,
that's going to give us a good chance in the
next two matches."
Latham also said new Zealand were
upbeat about their chances in Sri Lanka,
despite the recent 0-3 ODI series loss to
bangladesh and the absence of key players. The tour is an opportunity for several
young players, including Latham, to
embed themselves in the team ahead of
their home summer. "The boys are gelling
well together. That T20 win in bangladesh
gave us a lot of confidence. There's a good
vibe in the group at the moment. It's a
young and inexperienced side, but it's an
exciting tour for all involved."

FergUson To Face england again in ToUr MaTch
SYDNEY
AgENcIES

Callum Ferguson, aaron Finch, adam
Voges andSteve O'Keefe are among the
players who will face England in a fourday match in Sydney this week as part of
a Cricket australia Invitational XI. as they
did for the australia a squad that played
in Hobart last week, the selectors have
picked a strong batting line-up featuring
several players who could come into international contention soon, but a weakened
bowling attack. Ferguson is the only member of that australia a side who will play
in this week's match, as the severely rainaffected game in Hobart allowed him only
23 balls at the crease for an unbeaten 15.
Phillip Hugheswas originally meant to be
part of the Cricket australia Invitational
XI but instead has been released to play for
South australia, to make way for his state

team-mate Ferguson to have some more
time in the middle against England.
usman Khawaja, who the selectors
had also intended to play against England
in Sydney this week, has also been released
to play for Queensland, due to their growing injury list. Khawaja will play for the
bulls against new South Wales in brisbane, while Hughes will play for the Redbacks in adelaide against Western
australia, in a round of Shield matches that
begin on Wednesday, the same day as the
England tour game. "In selecting the final
XI, we have tried to be flexible given the
needs of particular states and individual
players following the latest round of firstclass matches across the country," Cricket
australia's general manager of team performance, Pat Howard, said. "We recognise
the injury situation in Queensland, so it is
appropriate to release usman Khawaja
from this tour match to support his state.

cue tAkeS Aim At betfAir chASe
Colin Tizzard expects an improved performance from Cue Card on his next outing in
the Betfair Chase following his seasonal debut at Exeter last week. The Dorset trainer
intends to run last season's Ryanair Chase hero in the Haydock feature on November
23, as long as the ground is not too heavy. Although originally disappointed after Cue
Card's third place in the Haldon Gold Cup, which he won 12 months ago, on reflection
Tizzard felt it was a great effort behind Somersby, who was receiving 17lb. "The race
has brought him on - there's no two ways about it," Tizzard told Sky Sports News. "I
was a bit disappointed on the day, but, looking back, he ran a super race. "He's an
athlete. You watch him on the gallops and he's brilliant. "As long as it's not
bottomless ground at Haydock, he'll go for the Betfair." SPORTS DESK

"We have also taken the view that due
to the rain-affected match in Hobart, Callum Ferguson didn't get the depth of international exposure we hoped to give him
through his australia a selection. Through
consultation with the SaCa, we felt it
made sense to select him in the next tour
match against England. In light of Callum's
selection, Phil Hughes, who has played a
lot of international cricket in recent months
will remain with South australia for its
next Shield match." The invitational side
will be captained by the new South Wales
wicketkeeper Peter nevill and will feature
mostly new South Wales players, with
only Voges, Ferguson, Finch and Ed
Cowan coming from interstate sides. although none of the batsmen are expected
to be in contention for the first ashes Test,
they are all close enough to the fringes to
hope that a big score against England
might help them move closer to a call-up.

kirk wins after
baird bogey
Briny Baird's long wait for a PGA Tour win
will go on a little longer after he bogeyed
the 72nd hole of the McGladrey Classic to
hand the title to Chris Kirk.
Kirk rolled in a ten-foot birdie putt on the
17th hole of the Seaside Course at Sea
Island to draw level with Baird on 14under par. However, Baird then bogeyed
the 18th and a tap-in par was enough for
Georgia native Kirk to claim the victory on
home soil. He finished with a 66 to close
the tournament on 14-under, while Baird
and South Africa Tim Clark tied for second
just a shot back on 13-under. Kirk's
second win on the PGA Tour nets him
almost one million dollars in prize money,
with the 28-year-old also grabbing an
invite to next year's masters at Augusta.
"It's unbelievable to be here at Sea
Island, at my home," he said. It left 41year-old Baird, who missed the entire
2013 season following surgery on both
shoulders, still searching for his maiden
victory on the US PGA Tour after missing
out on his 365th start. It was a lowscoring day at Sea Island with Scott
Brown, Brian Gay and John Senden all
shooting well to finish on 12 under. Brown
finished with a 66 to record his jointlowest round of the week while Gay and
Australian Senden both fired 67s on
Sunday. Two shots further back was
former US Open champion Webb Simpson
alongside Matt Kuchar and Matt Every
with all three players recording four-under
par 66s to finish the week. Sweden's
Robert Karlsson was the highest-placed
European in a group of six players two
shots further back. SPORTS DESK

RAINBOW HEADS POWER ENTRIES
SPORTS DESK
Finian's Rainbow heads the weights for
Saturday's Paddy Power Gold Cup at
Cheltenham at the latest entry stage.
The presence of nicky Henderson's
former Champion Chase winner is good
news for connections of ante-post favourite
Dynaste as they weigh up whether to have
a tilt at this valuable handicap or to wait
for the betfair Chase at Haydock.
The Pond House handler has no shortage of options for Saturday's contest with
the long absent Salut Flo and ballynagour
- an impressive winner at Warwick on his
uK bow - other possibilities.
Henderson has scratched Captain
Conan but could still be represented by
his impressive Festival winner Rajdhani
Express and last year's third nadiya De
La Vega, as well as the top-weight.
Paul nicholls lifted the Gold Cup 12
months ago and Woolcombe Folly could
attempt to give the Ditcheat handler a repeat success. Katenko was talked of as a
possible Cheltenham Gold Cup contender
last season only for his campaign to be cut
short but the seven year old could make
his eagerly awaited reappearance for
Venetia Williams.

Leading fancies johns Spirit and
Champion Court retain their places in the
28 strong field with Walkon, Tap night

and Irish raiders, Texas jack, Hidden Cyclone and Gift Of Dgab among other interesting possibles.

If practice makes perfect,
and no one is perfect,
why practice? –Derek p

15

sPorTs

S

Tuesday, 12 november, 2013

united sink Arsenal to kickstart season
MANCHESTER

m

AgENcIES

anCHESTER united reinvigorated their Premier
League title defence by winning 1-0 at home to leaders
arsenal on Sunday and

close to within five points of the early-season pace-setters.
Robin van Persie claimed the game's
only goal in the first half, scoring against
his former club for the third match running, to condemn arsene Wenger's side to
a first league loss since their defeat by
aston Villa on the opening day.

krul luck for SPurS
AS newcAStle win
LONDON: Tottenham Hotspur missed out on the chance to go level on points
with second-placed Liverpool in the Premier League as goalkeeper Tim Krul
inspired Newcastle to a 1-0 win at White Hart Lane on Sunday. Loic Remy
scored the only goal of the game in the 13th minute of the early kick-off
match when, played in by Yoan Gouffran, he rounded Spurs keeper Brad
Friedel before producing a composed finish. But that the Magpies, fresh from
beating Chelsea, took all three points from this trip to north London owed
much to a brilliant display by Dutch shot-stopper Krul, who produced a hatful
of excellent saves. Among them were a fine effort to keep out Roberto Soldado's
backwards header after he met a
free-kick and an athletic effort
when Krul going the wrong way
after Gylfi Sigurdsson's free-kick
took a huge deflection, clawed
the ball away before combining
with defender Mapou YangaMbiwa to clear Younes Kaboul's
follow-up off the line. "The first
save was the best, Soldado's
header," Krul told Sky Sports
afterwards. AgENcIES

Victory allowed united to climb to fifth,
with defeats for Tottenham Hotspur and
local rivals Manchester City earlier in the
day enabling them to move above both fellow title contenders. "It's been a great weekend -- we've not had many of them," said
united manager David Moyes, who had
also seen Chelsea drop points on Saturday.
"This was a big result for us today. arsenal
have been in terrific form this season and we
had to play well to get the result."
Having seen his side pick up just a
point from previous games against Chelsea,
Liverpool and City, Moyes will hope Sunday's victory marks the end of an awkward
bedding-in period at Old Trafford.
He will also have drawn strong encouragement from the performance of Phil
jones, who began the game in midfield but

deputised magnificently at centre-back
after nemanja Vidic had to go off through
injury. Moyes later revealed that the Serbian had been taken to hospital.
arsenal remain top going into the international break, two points above Liverpool, but after overseeing an impressive
win at borussia Dortmund in midweek,
Wenger is likely to have been concerned
by their toothlessness. "We conceded a
goal on a set-piece and in a big game that
makes a difference," said the arsenal manager. "We rushed our game too much and
lost too many balls. In the second half we
were composed, had a real go and played
our usual game. "We had to give a lot this
week -- Liverpool (who they beat 2-0),
Dortmund and here today. I think a draw
would have been a fair result today."

ISS CREW RETURNS SAFELY TO EARTH WITH OLYMPIC TORCH
MOSCOW
AgENcIES

Three astronauts returned to Earth Monday, following a 166-day mission, bringing the Olympic torch back from the
International Space Station after a historic
space walk. The trip completes the most
ambitious leg of Russia's unparalleled
torch relay in the run-up to the Winter
Olympic Games in Sochi next February.
Russian cosmonaut Fyodor yurchikhin,
naSa uS astronaut Karen nyberg and
Italian colleague Luca Parmitano, descended in the Soyuz capsule to touch
down at 0249 GMT on the frosty steppes of
Kazakhstan. The torch, kept unlit throughout its space journey due to safety precautions, was securely wrapped during the
descent, and an employee of Russia's space
agency Roscosmos took it out of the packaging. "Here's the torch!" he said, holding
it up to the cameras before handing it to veteran space traveller and Soyuz captain
yurchikhin who sat smiling wrapped up in

a blue blanket resting near the Soyuz.
He took off his gloves and briefly held
up the heavy 1.8 kilogramme and nearly
metre-long torch posing for pictures and
talking to the medical staff.
after a few minutes nyberg and Parmitano, who had completed his first space

kvyAt eArnS SuPer licence
Daniil Kvyat has qualified for his FIA Super Licence and will drive for Toro Rosso
during first practice at the United States and Brazilian Grands Prix. The Russian will
replace the Red Bull-bound Daniel Ricciardo at the Italian outfit next year and with
F1 testing limited, the team were keen to get the 19-year-old who has only been
racing single-seaters since 2010 more experience ahead of his debut. Having
clinched the GP3 Drivers' Championship in Abu Dhabi, Kvyat took to the Misano
circuit in Italy
last Friday
driving the
2011 STR6.
He completed
102 laps around 402
km - thus
satisfying the
FIA's criteria.
In Austin he
will replace
future teammate
Jean-Eric
Vergne in
Practice One,
whilst at
Interlagos the
Russian will
take the place
of Ricciardo.
SPORTS DESK

voyage, were also extricated from the craft,
which had landed on its side. The trio sat
briefly in the sunshine surrounded by medical staff as well as flags of Russia and the
Sochi Olympic Games, before they were
taken to the heated medical tent for initial
tests and changing out of their launch suits.

The capsule completed a "flawless descent" and touched down exactly on time
in a "bullseye landing," a naSa TV commentator said. "The crew is feeling well,"
Roscosmos said in a statement.
a team of three Russians, two americans, and a japanese astronaut remain
aboard the ISS which, before Monday's return, had been crammed with nine people
who hosted a rare conference from space
last week. Russia sent the torch on its fourday space mission last Thursday and even
covered the rocket in Olympic insignia.
Cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey
Ryazansky on Saturday took it for a
spacewalk posing spectacularly against
the backdrop of the ISS and the Earth
and completing a relay torch handover
that was viewed live worldwide and even
shown on screens at new york's Times
Square. The space-travelling torch will
be the one which lights the Olympic
cauldron in the black Sea resort Sochi
marking the start of the Winter Games on
February 7, authorities said.

wAtCh it Live
TENSPORTS
SRI LANKA V NEW ZEALAND
2ND ODI

2:00 PM

last-gasp hazard
saves mourinho's
home run
LONDON: A fiercely disputed 96th-minute
Eden Hazard penalty saw Chelsea snatch
a 2-2 draw with West Bromwich Albion on
Saturday to preserve Jose Mourinho's
unbeaten home record in league games.
The Chelsea manager was heading for his
first home defeat in 66 matches when
Steven Reid was contentiously adjudged
to have fouled Ramires and Hazard held
his nerve amid angry West Brom protests
to roll home an equaliser.
Samuel Eto'o had put the hosts in front,
but West Brom hit back through Shane
Long and Stephane Sessegnon to take
Chelsea to the brink of a second
consecutive league defeat following last
weekend's 2-0 loss at Newcastle United.
"It was a penalty," said Mourinho. "I have
watched it two or three times and it was a
clear penalty, in the same way it should
have been a clear free-kick against West
Brom when they scored the second goal.
"We missed chances and at the end of the
game, we had a penalty, which is always
a difficult situation to accept for the team
that is winning, but when they go home
they will see on their screens that it was a
situation where the referee did not make
a mistake." Despite Hazard's equaliser,
Chelsea slipped to fourth place, four
points below leaders Arsenal.
Mourinho had restored Hazard to his
starting XI after the Belgian attacking
midfielder was dropped for the mid-week
win over Schalke following his late return
from an unauthorised trip to France.
The 22-year-old seemed eager to atone
and was the catalyst for his side's opener
on the stroke of half-time with a low shot
that was pushed out by West Brom
goalkeeper Boaz Myhill, only for Eto'o to
embarrass the dawdling Liam Ridgewell
by poking the rebound home. Chelsea led
for only 16 minutes, however, with Long
out jumping John Terry and Frank
Lampard to head home an equaliser after
Petr Cech had pushed Gareth McAuley's
powerful header into the air. AgENcIES

KIMI TO MISS FINAL TWO RACES
SYDNEY
AgENcIES

Lotus confirmed on Sunday that Kimi
Raikkonen will miss the final two races of
the Formula 1 season in order to undergo
back surgery. Finnish paper Turun Sanomat
had reported that Raikkonen will miss both
the united States and brazilian Grands Prix
in order to try and rectify the long-standing
back problem, which flared up at the Singapore GP in September.
On that occasion, Raikkonen was able
to race but the 34-year-old has apparently
continued to suffer discomfort. "Lotus F1
Team can confirm that Kimi Räikkönen
will miss the final two races of the 2013
Formula 1 season to undergo, and recover
from, back surgery," a team statement read.
Speaking to Turun Sanomat, Raikkonen's manager Steve Robertson said: "In an
ideal world it would have been nice to finish the season with Lotus. However, due to
the severe pain that Kimi is having, sadly it
is not possible." Instead, Raikkonen will
travel to Salzburg next week to undergo the
surgery, which requires a four-week recovery period. In deciding to do so, it seems
clear that the 2007 World Champion would
rather concentrate on his preparations for

next season, when he returns to Ferrari.
The news comes one week after
Raikkonen's salary dispute with Lotus also
made headlines, with the driver threatening
to boycott last weekend's abu Dhabi GP
after revealing he had been "paid zero euro
the whole year".
The stand-off had seemed resolved
after it was revealed that long-awaited
backing from Quantum Motorsports, who
are trying to buy a 35 per cent stake in the
Lotus team, finally appeared secure.

More pressing for Lotus will be the
need for a replacement driver. Last year's
GP2 champion Davide Valsecchi - who
briefly deputised for Raikkonen during preseason testing - is their nominated reserve.
"The team will make an announcement
about the replacement driver for the united
States and brazilian Grands Prix in due
course," the statement added. Raikkonen
currently stands third in the Drivers' Championship having won the opening race of
the season in Melbourne.

Back Page

Tuesday, 12 november, 2013

indiAn miSSion
to mArS
SufferS glitch
but ‘no SetbAck’
NEW DELHI
AgENcIES

India’s Mars spacecraft suffered a brief
engine failure Monday as scientists tried to
move it into a higher orbit around Earth,
but controllers denied any setback to the
ambitious low-cost mission. The Mars
Orbiter Mission, which blasted off on
november 5 for an 11-month trip to Red
Planet, is being launched on its way via an
unusual “slingshot” method for
interplanetary journeys. Lacking a largeenough rocket to blast directly out of
Earth’s atmosphere and its gravitational
pull, the Indian spacecraft is orbiting Earth
until the end of the month while building
up enough velocity to break free. During a
fourth repositioning to take it 100,000
kilometres (62,000 miles) from Earth, the
thruster engines briefly failed on Monday,
leading the auto-pilot to take over.

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif witnesses the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Monday between the Government of Punjab and ALBA,
multi-national company based in Germany .

POLIO VIRUS STRAIN
FOUND IN SYRIA
CONFIRMED AS
ORIGINATING FROM
PAKISTAN: WHO
GENEVA
AgENcIES

Polio, that has crippled at least 13
children in Syria, has been confirmed as
being caused by a strain of the virus that
originated in Pakistan and is now
spreading across the Middle East, the
World Health Organisation said on
Monday. Genetic sequencing shows the
strain found in Syrian children in Deir
al-Zor, where an outbreak was detected
last month, is linked to the strain of
Pakistani origin found in sewage in
Egypt, Israel and Palestinian territories
in the past year. “Genetic sequencing
indicates that the isolated viruses are
most closely linked to virus detected in
environmental samples in Egypt in
December 2012 (which in turn had been
linked to wild poliovirus circulating in
Pakistan),” the united nations agency
said in a statement on Monday. Closelyrelated strains of the wild poliovirus of
Pakistani origin have also been detected
in sewage samples in Israel, the West
bank and Gaza Strip since February
2013, it said. Polio virus has been
confirmed in 13 of 22 children who
became paralysed in the northern Syrian
province of Deir al-Zor. Investigations
continue into the other nine cases. It is
Syria’s first polio outbreak since 1999.
no children in Egypt, Israel or the
Palestinian territories have been hit by
polio thanks to high immunisation rates
and a strong response to the alert, WHO
spokesperson Sona bari said. Polio
virus is endemic in Pakistan,
afghanistan and nigeria despite a 25year-old campaign to eradicate the
disease, which can paralyse a child in
hours. Militants from countries
including Pakistan are believed to be
among groups battling to oust President
bashar al-assad, leading to speculation
that they brought the virus into the
country. The WHO says it is unlikely
that adults, who generally have higher
immunity, carried the virus into Syria
and that its mode of transmission will
probably never be known.

IRAN, UN N-WATCHDOG AGREE ON
‘ROADMAP FOR COOPERATION’
broAd outline of deAl
includes PArtiAl or
totAl freeze of
tehrAn’s nucleAr
ProgrAmme in return
for eAsing of sAnctions
TEHRAN

I

AgENcIES

Ran and the un nuclear watchdog agreed Monday on a
“roadmap for cooperation” over
Tehran’s controversial atomic
drive, as the uS accused Iran of
scuttling efforts to end the deadlock.
The announcement of the breakthrough came during a visit to Tehran by
International atomic Energy agency
(IaEa) chief yukiya amano. no further
details were immediately released. “The
joint statement that was signed today details a roadmap for cooperation that determines mutual steps to resolve
remaining issues,” Iran’s nuclear chief
ali akbar Salehi said at a news conference with amano that was closed to

Western media in Tehran. amano hailed
the deal as “an important step” but added
“much more must be done”, in remarks
carried by ISna news agency.
The IaEa chief’s visit was aimed at
resolving technical issues linked to the
body’s role in monitoring Iran’s nuclear
activities. broader questions of how to
ensure that Tehran’s nuclear programme
is not being used to mask a drive for
atomic weapons are being discussed in
negotiations between Iran and P5+1
powers — britain, France, the united
States, Russia and China plus Germany.
In the latest talks, a marathon session in
Geneva which ended inconclusively on
Sunday, hopes for a deal had soared after
top diplomats rushed to join the talks.
but they faded as cracks appeared
among world powers when France raised
concerns over a heavy water reactor
being built at arak. addressing the issue
Monday in abu Dhabi, uS Secretary of
State john Kerry accused Iran of being
responsible for the failure of the talks.
“The P5+1 was unified on Saturday
when we presented our proposal to the
Iranians ... but Iran couldn’t take it, at
that particular moment they weren’t able
to accept,” said Kerry, who was in abu
Dhabi after having taken part in the talks.

Kerry assured Israel that the deal will
better protect it. “What we are doing will
protect Israel more effectively,” he said,
after the uS and Israel were locked in an
escalating war of words over the talks
with Iran. The P5+1 group and Iran will
reconvene again in Geneva on november
20 to try to iron out differences.
The broad outline of the agreement is
said to include a freeze of part or all of
Tehran’s nuclear programme in return for
the easing of sanctions. Close to an agreement France said Monday that the two
sides were close to an agreement despite
the failure of the Geneva talks. “We are not
far from an agreement with the Iranians
but we are not there yet,” French Foreign
Minister Laurent Fabius said on Europe 1
radio. Responding to criticism that Paris
was behind the failure because of its reservations about parts of the deal on the table,
he retorted: “France is neither isolated nor
a country that follows the herd. It is independent and works for peace.” His comments were echoed by a senior Western
diplomat in brussels on Monday, who said
the talks needed more time. “The collective assessment of the group was that some
more time would still be needed; that was
not just the assessment of the French,” said
the source on condition of anonymity.

at least five Pakistanis died and 9 others
were wounded in a road accident near
Madina on Monday. according to
details, Pakistani pilgrims were going to
Madina after visiting Waadi-e-jin when
their van crashed into a bus coming from
opposite direction. The dead were
shifted to the morgue where as the
wounded to a nearby hospital.

gunmAn killS
irAniAn dePuty
miniSter
TEHRAN
AgENcIES

a gunman shot and killed the Iranian
deputy industry minister on Monday.
The report Sunday by IRna said Safdar
Rahmatabadi was shot twice in head and
chest that night in an eastern
neighbourhood of Tehran.
The report quoted police as saying they
believed the deputy minister was shot by
someone travelling with him in his car.
Police said they had begun an
investigation. no group immediately
claimed responsibility for the attack.
Rahmatabadi was not a well-known
public figure in moderate President
Hassan Rouhani’s government. This is the
second attack in recent days on a
government official in Iran.
On Wednesday, a gunman killed an
Iranian state prosecutor in a restive
southeastern region near the country’s
border with Pakistan.

Saudi police clash with migrant workers, kill two
RIYADH
AgENcIES

at least two people have been killed and
scores wounded as Saudi police clashed
with protesting foreign workers in a
district of the capital, Riyadh.
a police statement said hundreds of
people were arrested in the Manfuhah
neighbourhood. Later on Sunday,
thousands of mostly african workers
gathered in the capital to prepare for
repatriation. Last week police rounded
up thousands of migrant workers after
an amnesty linked to new employment
rules expired.
YEMENIS REtuRN: One of the two

people killed was a Saudi while the other
was unidentified, police said. about 70
others were injured and there were some
560 arrests, officials added. However,
Ethiopian Foreign affairs Minister Tedros
adhanom said he had information that
three Ethiopian citizens had been killed,
one last Tuesday and two in the latest
clashes. He said addis ababa had
formally complained to Riyadh. “This is
unacceptable. We call on the Saudi
government to investigate this issue
seriously. We are also happy to take our
citizens, who should be treated with
dignity while they are there,” he said.
Police said they intervened on Saturday
after foreign workers in the Manfuhah

district rioted, attacking Saudi and other
foreign residents with rocks and knives.
Vigilante Saudi residents in Manfuhah
reportedly joined the fighting and even
detained some Ethiopians. Manfuhah is
home to many migrants, mostly from east
africa. On Sunday, witnesses said police
surrounded the district while units from
the national Guard and special forces
were sent in. Hundreds of african
migrants reportedly surrendered to police.
a long line of buses took the migrants to
temporary housing along the airport road
in Riyadh. Last Monday, the authorities
began rounding up thousands of illegal
foreign workers following the expiry of a
seven-month amnesty for them to

Published by Arif Nizami at Plot No 79, Sector 24, Korangi Industrial Area Karachi.

formalise their status. nearly a million
bangladeshis, Indians, Filipinos, nepalis,
Pakistanis and yemenis are estimated to
have left the country in the past three
months. More than 30,000 yemenis have
reportedly crossed to their home country
in the past 10 days alone.
Four million other migrants obtained
work permits before last Sunday’s
deadline. Saudi arabia has the arab
world’s largest economy, but authorities
are trying to reduce the 12%
unemployment rate among native Saudis.
an estimated nine million migrant
workers are in Saudi arabia - more than
half the workforce - filling manual,
clerical, and service jobs.